Final Day Frustration For Colback

By Dominic Scurr

Midfielder Jack Colback couldn't hide his frustration despite Newcastle United's 5-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at St. James' Park on Sunday.

The already-relegated Magpies exited the Barclays Premier League in style as a brace from Georginio Wijnaldum and goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic, Rolando Aarons and Daryl Janmaat saw the hosts emerge worthy winners from an enthralling final-day contest.

And while Colback was pleased to end the season on a positive note, he felt that United's failure to produce more performances of a similar standard was ultimately what cost them their top-flight status.

"It's was a really strange game," the 26-year old told nufc.co.uk.

"It's a fantastic result for us on paper and it's good to sign off with a win for the fans. But it was an irrelevant game and we're relegated, so it's bitter-sweet really.

"I'd say it's probably annoying more than anything - we've shown that we have the quality in the squad and when we have quality like that we shouldn't be getting relegated.

"I think if we had put in more performances like we did today over the course of the season then we would have been comfortable."

Sunday's victory means United are the only Premier League side to do the double over Tottenham during 2015/16 but Colback feels the respectable feat was overshadowed by his side's position in the table.

"We have shown our quality in both games against a very good Spurs side," he continued.

"But it's irrelevant because we haven't beaten enough teams when it mattered and haven't managed to stay in the league.

"(The Premier League) is a tough league and if you don't perform you get punished - as Spurs found out today and we found out too many times over the season."