Newcastle manger Alan Pardew admitted that he may have pushed his players too hard in the 1-0 defeat to Sunderland

A late Adam Johnson winner meant that Pardew is the first Newcastle manager to lose four consecutive derbies. 

He said: "Losing four times in a row against Sunderland is a tag that is going to stick on me now so I will have to wear it.

"It wasn't our day. Criticism that might come my way or the teams way, we will have to accept." 

However, he was quick to praise his player's effort and commitment. 

He continued: "I am proud of how the team approached the game today. You are pushing and we wanted to win - we would take the draw now but if you draw without pushing for the win you would be disappointed.

"Maybe we pushed a bit too hard but I am not going to criticise my players. They put in everything they could.

"We should be sitting here as winners but we have lost.

"We were chasing the game and in terms of cover committing we had warned the players that Sunderland might score that way, and we were punished.

"But on another day we would have won. We had good chances."

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.