'We worked our socks off' - Dawson reacts after dramatic win at Reading

United took a first-half lead at Adams Park through Tom Holmes' own goal before late drama occurred, with Nathan Harker saving Tom Barrett's penalty in the dying stages before Tyrique Bartlett bundled the ball home, wrapping up maximum points in injury time.

The victory sends United fourth with 28 points, narrowing the Magpies' gap to Reading by two points with a game in hand over the Royals.

With Newcastle extending their unbeaten run to five matches in all competitions, Dawson was thoroughly pleased with his young side for managing to dig deep to take three points back to Tyneside.

"The lads worked their socks off and I was really pleased that the team kept a clean sheet," Dawson told nufc.co.uk. "We showed a lot of hard work, discipline and decision-making of when to press or stay and dealt really well with a lot of direct balls and those played in behind. 

"We haven't necessarily always seen the character and resilience from this group. We keep asking for consistency and in the last two games, out of possession, we have managed to do that. Nathan made a great save with the penalty to preserve that, followed by another great save afterwards, but in fairness, I thought everybody worked very hard to keep a clean sheet.

"Clean sheets are something we've tried to stress to them, not necessarily what we've worked on a lot, because we try to work on all parts of the game throughout the week, but more of a conscious effort of thinking and asking them to show a bit more desire to keep the ball out of the net, knowing it gives you a great chance to go on and win games."

With six league games remaining, United's youngsters lie in the play-off spots of Division Two, three points ahead of Manchester United's second string.

However, with the young Magpies' squad going through a recent purple patch in terms of goalscoring - netting 18 times in their last five matches - Dawson insisted his squad are more than capable of finishing in the top spots of the second tier of Premier League 2. 

He added: "We know we have quality and goals within our team but, going forward in their careers when it's your livelihood and results really matter, clean sheets go a long way to getting you off to a good start. 

"It's tight with many teams chasing for a play-off spot. We have good momentum and those clean sheets seem to be coming at the right time. We know we have got goals in the team which can give us wins if we can keep the ball out of our net.

"When you manage to nick goals and keep clean sheets, it helps to boost confidence and build on the momentum and luckily we are carrying it from game to game at the moment.

"I'm sure there will be a time when the result won't go in our favour and that's why it is even more important that we get the performance right so, when the negative result does come, we can still build on things and still be confident in the way we've played."