Newcastle United goalkeeper Karl Darlow has called upon the team to "kick on" after returning to the top of the Championship table.

After 29 games played by both Newcastle and Brighton & Hove Albion, it is the Magpies that find themselves at the summit.

Having had to climb a tricky slope to the top, overcoming a small slide, they now maintain a two-point advantage over their fellow title contenders.

At the heart of the team has been Darlow who has provided them with some goalkeeping masterclasses to maintain the all important points.

More determined than ever, the 23-year-old reveals how Newcastle are not going to give up their lead at the top.

Newcastle done with chasing Seagulls

When quizzed about the position of his club, the keeper was firm in his response, insisting: "We have to kick on now."

“We are at the top of the table again and we want to stay there. We need to make sure we win as many games as we can in the last 17 games that are left in the season," Darlow expanded.

It is hard to avoid the topic of second-placed Brighton, who have consistently been hot on the heels of the Mags, or vice versa.

Darlow mentioned them but insisted Newcastle remain focused on the task in hand, adding: “Credit to Brighton – they have kept up with us and we have to be on our toes every step of the way.”

He continued: “We have set a very good pace with the points we are picking up at this level. When you look at the totals that tend to get you up in this league we are well on track for that."

The Northampton native offered his insight as to what his team need to do to ensure their top place status, explaining: “We need to keep concentrated and make sure that when we go away from home we come back with all three points. We don’t make it easy for ourselves. It is a tough league – we know that."

Darlow reflects on Derby win

Seemingly, the Magpies are picking up the momentum that they had gained earlier in the season.

After a frustrating mid-week game against QPR where an own goal in added time forced the teams to share the spoils, Newcastle were victorious against their former boss, Steve McClaren's Derby County.

Reflecting on that game, which was a narrow 1-0 victory, Darlow commented on the nature of the games in the second-tier.

He said: “Every game is a bit of a scrap and we had to do that towards the end against Derby. Obviously when we were only one goal up going into the final stages we knew it could turn out a bit nervy."

"It did but we showed towards the end of the game that we have the character to get through what Derby threw at us,” he added.

It almost went all wrong later on in the game as Newcastle fought to maintain their one-goal lead but luckily DeAndre Yedlin was on hand to clear the ball off the line with a header with Derby close to drawing level.

Darlow noted that, saying that “one header went for us against Derby and one against us in the week," and stating that it was"nice to have some luck go our way this time."

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Katie Mishner
Women football writer and Newcastle United supporter. Email: [email protected]