Character and resilience were the key ingredients for Saturday’s crucial Aviva Premiership triumph over London Irish according to Gary Gold.
The Falcons boss watched on as his side ignited the fight-back with a gutsy 19-10 victory to close the gap to just six points at the foot of the table.
Speaking to the media in his post-match press conference, Gold said: “It is a happy and relieved changing room and we made heavy weather of that.
“Any win at this stage is an important win and I am very proud of the character and resilience shown.”
Paying tribute to an Irish outfit who have aspirations of playing Heineken Cup rugby next term, the South African chief added: “London Irish are one of the best attacking teams in the Premiership and we stuck to our guns and they went through several phases three or four times and we kept them out.”
Newcastle had to come from 10-6 down at the break and they did it with aplomb by virtue of a Ryan Shortland try coupled with a solid rearguard.
12 minutes from time Shortland intercepted a Delon Armitage pass, and the Kiwi wing raced half the length of the field to touchdown in front of a jubilant South Stand.
Gold said: “We were lucky when Ryan scored as I had just had a call from the medical team to say that Ryan was really struggling with a bang on the head.
“He was not a 100% where he was, so if he wants to play concussed like that all of the time, I will be happy to give him a bang on the head before the game.”
Shortland’s heroics were despite the Falcons going down to 14 men with Adriaan Fondse given a straight red for an altercation with Armitage.
“I have not had a chance to see the incident but I am sure the referee is not going to make a red card decision very easily and I am very disappointed,” said Gold.
“Our backs are against the wall and that is one of the things you can control and I will be very disappointed if we have let ourselves down.
“You just cannot afford to do that and we were lucky that we did not pay a higher price for that sending off.
“The way that the other 14 guys played for the last 15-20 minutes was a real sign of character but we really should not be putting ourselves in a position like that,” added the former Exiles director of rugby.
Gold takes his revitalised unit to Welford Road next weekend to face Leicester Tigers who snatched a last gasp victory at Saracens on Sunday with a Geordan Murphy drop-goal.
The northeasterners return to Kingston Park on Friday 2 March as they entertain Harlequins in the Aviva Premiership (kick-off 7.45pm).
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