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Boss: "Two Poor Goals"
Written by Newcastle Utd
United boss Alan Pardew was disappointed with his side's defending as they went down 2-1 at Fulham
By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Club Reporter
Alan Pardew was left to bemoan his side's sloppy defending after Newcastle United came away from Fulham with a 2-1 defeat on Monday night.
Steve Sidwell opened the scoring for the hosts at Craven Cottage, only for Hatem Ben Arfa's long range strike to draw the Magpies level during the second half.
However, parity didn't last for long as Hugo Rodallega secured all three points with a simple header from a free-kick.
And Pardew was disappointed to come away empty-handed following a largely good performance in London.
"I think we've played a really fast game tonight," he told nufcTV.
"Our attacking play was excellent but we conceded a poor goal - that second one - when we had the game exactly where we wanted it.
"Unfortunately we keep saying that, especially away from home.
"We are going to have to get more resilience about us and make sure we don't concede goals like that."
Ben Arfa's goal will unsurprisingly attract plenty of plaudits, but the manager was also pleased with his other offensive players, who caused Fulham problems all night long.
"We had some good performances tonight, especially in the attacking half of the pitch," said Pardew.
"Hatem, I thought struggled to get the pace of the game in the first 20 minutes, but he then came into it and got a great goal.
"But really and truly he hasn't trained enough to finish that game, because we needed him in the last 20 minutes.
"Demba and Papiss were a handful for them, the midfield and full-backs were better going forward, but we cannot concede goals like that. They were two poor goals."
To watch Alan Pardew's full post-match nufcTV interview, click