Benitez - 'We're In A Good Moment'

By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor

Rafa Benitez believes that his resurgent Newcastle United side are in a "good moment" after their second-half fightback against Liverpool on Saturday kept their Barclays Premier League survival hopes alive.

United are now unbeaten in three matches and have picked up five crucial points in the space of a few days, and Benitez knows that momentum could be key at this stage of the season.

The Magpies went to Anfield on the back of a 3-0 victory over Swansea and a 1-1 draw against Manchester City, but fell behind to the Reds inside the opening two minutes.

Adam Lallana doubled the Merseysiders' advantage but Papiss Cisse pulled one back in the 48th minute and Jack Colback levelled with his first goal of the campaign.

And Benitez told nufcTV that United will now go into their next game, against Alan Pardew's Crystal Palace this weekend, in a positive frame of mind.

"We'll play in front of our fans so hopefully they can make the difference - and they can score the first goal (for us) in the next game," he smiled.

"We said when we won against Swansea 'keep the momentum.' Against Manchester City, we had a very good reaction from the team.

"So I think we are in a good moment and we have to carry on pushing and try to win every game until the end."

While Newcastle have picked up points at St. James' Park throughout the season, they had lost every away game of 2016 until Saturday.

Daniel Sturridge's early opener gave them another mountain to climb and Benitez admitted: "We knew that our record away wasn't the best and to concede an early goal is very difficult to manage.

"But I think the reaction in the second half was fantastic.

"We knew that everything could change and with the way we were playing, they (Liverpool) were a little bit more nervous.

"We had more chances and we put everything into the second half, trying to change the result."

Benitez was afforded a warm welcome from the Liverpool supporters both before and after the match.

He was in charge of the Reds when they won the Champions League in Istanbul in 2005, coming from 3-0 down at the break to eventually win on penalties.

"It was very emotional at the beginning," said Benitez.

"I was very disappointed after one minute, and really pleased at the end because the character we showed on the pitch, the performance in the second half, the team spirit, everything was so positive.

"As a manager, you have to be proud of your players.

"I have very good memories here. We were 2-0 down at half time so people were maybe thinking about Istanbul too, but the main thing is we got a point against a very good team.

"It was difficult, the reaction was very positive and hopefully we can carry on winning games now."

You can watch the full nufcTV interview with Rafa Benitez here