We've set the bar, says Ritchie

A Fabian Schär thunderbolt and Sean Longstaff’s first goal on home soil did the damage against Sean Dyche’s Clarets, who huffed and puffed in the second half but rarely looked like finding a way back into the game.

United have now won four of their last six in the top flight – including a memorable defeat of last season’s champions, Manchester City – while they were unfortunate to drop points late in the day against both Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Wide-man Ritchie – deployed on the left of a five-man backline in recent outings – feels that the Magpies have rediscovered their mojo over the last month or so, and the Scot stressed that the feel-good factor generated by their results of late has only heightened their appetite for more of the same.

“It’s the business end of the season and since the break we had in Spain, we’ve had two wins and I think you can see from the way we moved the ball throughout the game – especially in the first half, where I thought we were brilliant – that confidence is flowing through the team now,” he told nufc.co.uk. “We knew we had this quality and it was about having the confidence to play and play in the right areas. With the whole squad now, you can see there’s competition for places and the level of performance has definitely been raised.

“But still, it’s small margins. Yes, we’ve been on the right end of four results at home, but these games can easily go either way. Even tonight, Fabi scored a screamer, you go 1-0 up and suddenly the game turns in your favour. You get the second and it’s all about seeing the game out, and I think we did that really well.

“Hopefully we can continue to perform to the level we are. I think the performances of late have been fantastic. Tottenham away, we were so unlucky, and the performance was fantastic. Wolves away after that, it was another great performance and we were really unfortunate on the night not to take three points. I think we’ve set the bar now and we need to make sure we continue to hit that standard, and try to raise it if we can.

“But 100 per cent, there’s certainly not going to be any complacency. First and foremost, the manager won’t let that happen, but as a group, the players know that we need to get to 40 points. Hopefully that’ll be a safe zone and we can kick on from there. We’ll certainly be going into the West Ham game with a desire to continue to win games because we know that the job’s not done yet.”

Ritchie also reserved a word of praise for young midfielder Longstaff, who put in another outstanding shift for the Magpies after being handed his tenth start on the spin.

“He’s been fantastic, Longy,” said Ritchie. “First and foremost, as a person. Everyone’s giving him plaudits for his football – that goes without saying. But as a lad, he’s fantastic. Since he’s come into the group, he’s stepped in like he’s been here for years. He plays with such maturity. He’s so calm, and you could probably see from the way we celebrated with him that everyone’s so happy for him. But as I say, the most important thing is that he’s a fantastic lad.”