Newcastle legend Shay Given has hailed the 1-0 win over Manchester United as a ‘massive result’ and praised goalkeeper Martin Dubravka after a debut to remember.
Huddersfield’s emphatic win over Bournemouth earlier on Sunday had plunged the Magpies into the bottom three, only for Rafa Benitez’s side to respond with arguably their best performance of the season to move up to 13th in the Premier League table.
Matt Ritchie’s crisp, close-range finish in the 65th minute proved enough to settle the result as Jose Mourinho made it seven unsuccessful league visits to St James’ Park and Newcastle ended a run of eight home matches without a win.
Given, who made 462 appearances in 12 years on Tyneside, expressed his delight on Twitter, recognising the importance of the win as Newcastle temporarily eased their relegation worries.
Massive result for the toon @NUFC great debut for Dubravka as well 👏🙌🏻 #ToonArmy #NEWMNU
— Shay Given (@No1shaygiven) February 11, 2018
The 41-year-old former goalkeeper also reserved praise for loanee Dubravka after the Slovakian stopper produced a stunning display to register a fully deserved clean sheet on his first appearance.
Dubravka made a series of crucial saves and exuded confidence every time he was required to claim crosses, with the 29-year-old paying back the £1.7 million loan fee paid to Sparta Prague in full.
