CIARAN CLARK claims the character and spirit developed during last season’s Championship title triumph will be the key to ensuring Newcastle United remain in the top-flight this term.

The Magpies ended a four-game losing run as they dug deep at West Brom on Tuesday night, overhauling a two-goal deficit to claim a 2-2 draw.

On the back of last weekend’s home humiliation at the hands of Watford, it would have been easy for Newcastle to have folded when Sam Field doubled West Brom’s lead at the start of the second half, but they regrouped effectively to claim two second-half goals of their own as they dominated the game in the closing stages.

Seven members of Tuesday’s starting line-up played for Newcastle in the Championship, with all three substitutes also having featured in the second tier, and the bond that was nurtured last season continues to serve the core of the United squad well.

Rafael Benitez might bemoan the limitations of his transfer dealings in the summer, but by sticking with a majority of the players that won promotion, the Magpies manager has been able to draw on a deep pool of positivity and pride.

“Last season was great, and we’ve carried some of that momentum and togetherness with us into the Premier League,” said Clark, who is currently skippering the Newcastle side in the absence of the injured Jamaal Lascelles. “We managed to come straight back up and win the league, and although we knew it was going to be very tough coming into the Premier League, we’ve got a good group together who are enjoying the challenge.

“We’ve got a great unity there, and a great squad with some really big characters. That was important in the Championship, and it’s important again for us this season. We’ll fight, and we’ll keep going no matter what the situation is. We’ll never give up, and I think we showed that (at West Brom).

“We knew we had to get something out of the game. We made it very difficult for ourselves, but the strength of character that we showed was massive. We’ll take real positivity and encouragement from that. We have to learn from our mistakes, but we could have gone on and won the game by the end and we have to take the positives from that.”

Having started the season strongly, briefly rising as high as fourth, the last few weeks have provided something of a reality check for the Magpies.

Successive 1-0 defeats to Burnley and Bournemouth could have gone either way, and Newcastle actually played pretty well for a large period of the 4-1 defeat at Manchester United, but last weekend’s collapse against Watford set the alarm bells ringing.

Tuesday’s comeback silenced some of the more panicked assessments of Newcastle’s form, and delivered a timely point given that the club’s next two away games take them to Chelsea and Arsenal.

“We started the season so well, and took great belief out of that, but we knew there would come a time when things got more difficult,” said Clark. “Form does dip a little bit, but we just have to try to work through that and keep doing what we’ve been doing.

“We’ve tried to get back to basics a bit, and I think we did that (against West Brom), especially in the second half. We know ourselves as players that the run we’ve been on has not really been good enough from our end, but we tried to stay focused and working hard. We haven’t stopped doing that in training, and it’s obviously paid off.

“We knew at some point it would, and to come back from two goals down, it obviously has. It’s going to be a tough one on Saturday (at Chelsea), we know that, but we’ll take great belief out of the second-half performance and bring it into the game at the weekend.”

Clark reserved special praise for Matt Ritchie, with the Scotsman having set up both of Newcastle’s goals at the Hawthorns.

Ritchie’s superb in-swinging corner enabled Clark to beat Ben Foster with a powerful downward header, and it was another set-piece that resulted in the Magpies’ equaliser, with Ritchie’s driven free-kick deflecting off both Salomon Rondon and Jonny Evans before finding its way into the net.

“He (Ritchie) puts great quality onto his deliveries,” said Clark. “West Brom are a big side, but I think they found it hard to defend the balls he was putting into the box. If we can keep that going now, and keep trying to create chances, hopefully that consistency will be there and we can go and score some more goals.”

Ritchie's performance was more impressive given he was playing with a broken wrist. The Scotland international, 28, suffered the fracture in the closing stages of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at home to Watford when he fell awkwardly.

Despite X-rays confirming the break in his right arm, Ritchie wanted to play at West Brom and the club’s medical staff arranged for a protective cast to be worn. He has also outlined a desire to keep playing.