Matt Ritchie has warned Newcastle they have to be better as they prepare to return to Premier League action after he rescued their fledgling FA Cup adventure.
By Damian Spellman, Press Association Sport
January 6 2019 11:34 AM
Matt Ritchie has warned Newcastle they have to be better as they prepare to return to Premier League action after he rescued their fledgling FA Cup adventure.
The 29-year-old midfielder got the Magpies out of jail with an 85th-minute penalty in a 1-1 draw to deny Sky Bet Championship Blackburn a third-round victory at St James’ Park, but later admitted the performance from a much-changed team had not been good enough.
Ritchie told NUFC TV: “I keep practising them. You never know when you’re going to get one and you need to be ready.
“I certainly felt the pressure, but I managed to put it in the bottom corner and I’m pleased with that. Hopefully that will get me off the mark now and (I can) get some more goals.
“But more importantly, the performance of the team, we need to make sure it improves and hopefully with that we can pick up more points.
“It was obviously not the best performance, but we showed good personality, a good reaction to going one down. It’s just frustrating the first half, we didn’t really get going.
“Second half, we conceded the goal and then we picked up a little bit, but still it was a disappointing performance and it’s good to still be in the competition.”
Skipper-for-the-night Ritchie was one of only three men who had started the midweek fixture against Manchester United to retain his place as Rafael Benitez used the depth of his squad, but ultimately saw his under-studies struggle to make an impression.
