Townsend Focused On "Seven Cup Finals"

By Tom Easterby - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Andros Townsend says Newcastle United are firmly focused on the "seven cup finals" in front of them as they prepare to face Southampton away from home this weekend.

Rafa Benitez's side travel to St. Mary's on Saturday (3pm kick off) in search of vital points as the Barclays Premier League season enters its latter stages.

And while Townsend admitted to the team's dejection after Martin Olsson's strike sealed their last gasp defeat at Norwich City last time out, the 24-year-old says the Magpies squad have moved on from that crushing loss - and reckons that the togetherness shown in the game at Carrow Road can serve them well on the south coast this weekend.

"After the game everyone was dejected, but I think we've got seven cup finals left. Of course we're devastated and the fans are devastated, but we need to get on with it," Townsend told nufcTV. "We need to focus on the next game, and I think that's what we've done this week. We've kind of put Norwich to one side and focused on Southampton, and focused on getting a positive result.

"Everyone can see that the battling spirit is there. We didn't get the result we wanted in the last minute but I think now we need to go one better than battling spirit - we need to get points, even if we don't play well. Even if we're playing ugly, we need to get three points and at the moment, three points is the be-all and end-all.

"We've got a good group of players who have all been there and done it and played for their countries. We have that confidence and the extra confidence to know that we can score goals when needed is obviously an extra boost and we'll take that into Saturday."

Ronald Koeman's Southampton currently sit seventh in the table, hot on the heels of West Ham United and Manchester United just above them.

And Townsend believes that regardless of standings, the Saints will provide a stern test - and he hopes that United's supporters will have something to celebrate when they make the long trip back up to Tyneside on Saturday evening.

"If they're seventh or 17th, it's still going to be a difficult game. Especially this season, I know it's a cliché but there are no easy games - everyone's beaten everybody," he said.

"Hopefully it's another occasion we can get up for and give our fans the points they need, and we need.

"We can take the positives from Norwich - the fighting spirit, we scored two goals, the second half performance - but I think we need points now.

"I'm sure the fans would be happy would be happy with an ugly 1-0 or an ugly 2-1 in the last minute, so we're looking to give the travelling support something to cheer so we can go to the three games at home into a high and looking to catch up to the teams above us."

After Southampton, Benitez's men face Swansea and Manchester City at St. James' Park.

Former Tottenham Hotspur winger Townsend reserved praise for United's loyal following, who he says have been the team's "12th man" - and hopes the players can give something back with some positive results in front of their own supporters.

"The home support especially since I've been here has been fantastic and they've really been our 12th man, they've really pushed us on," said the ten-cap England international. "You could see against Sunderland they pushed us on to get the late equaliser and we could have won the game.

"They're definitely going to play a part and I'm sure they will. Hopefully we can do them justice over the three games."

You can watch the full nufcTV interview with Andros Townsend here