A DELIGHTED Joe Kinnear last night claimed Newcastle’s new-found defensive resilience was a direct result of a series of extra coaching sessions designed specifically to improve his back four.

Yesterday’s 3-0 victory at Portsmouth made it three clean sheets in as many away games, a welcome contrast to the constant concessions that have characterised many of the club’s defensive displays in recent years.

With Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong having developed a successful partnership at the heart of central defence, Newcastle are now a much more solid proposition than they were at the start of the season, when they conceded three goals in successive away games at Arsenal and West Ham.

Kinnear made improving the defence a priority when he was appointed as Kevin Keegan’s successor in September, and with the help of an overhauled training schedule, the Newcastle boss has engineered a remarkable turnaround in the club’s defensive fortunes.

“When I came, the defenders were lacking in confidence and direction,” said Kinnear. “They probably didn’t work as hard as I do at coaching on defensive situations.

“We normally have four days a week working on the defence because I believe it’s the most important part of football. It’s always difficult to teach strikers to score goals – they either have it or they haven’t – whereas defensively you can work on things and improve as a unit day in, day out.”

Yesterday’s victory lifted Newcastle out of the bottom three, extended an unbeaten run that now stretches to five matches, and silenced the critics who were claiming that Kinnear’s side were drawing too many games.

“I’m delighted,” said the Newcastle boss, who confirmed he would be meeting Michael Owen and his representatives tomorrow to discuss a new contract. “People are harping on week in, week out that we haven’t been winning away, so it puts the record straight.

“We’re hard to beat away from home first and foremost, and then it’s a case of taking what we can and creating opportunities. We’ve got that mentality into the players now.

We’ve been getting a bit of criticism recently because we’ve had so many draws but the philosophy of being hard to beat ain’t going to change.”

Having inherited a side that were in danger of being cast adrift at the foot of the Premier League table, Kinnear can now look forward to Christmas games against Tottenham, Wigan and Liverpool from a position of relative strength.

“When I took the job, we were ten points behind Blackburn and ten behind Manchester City,” he said. “We’ve gradually got ourselves up and running and now we’re a few points in front of those teams and very close to the rest. I don’t know many teams who will come to Portsmouth and win by three clear goals.”

Meanwhile, embattled owner Mike Ashley has admitted that he has not received a single formal offer for Newcastle.

Despite dropping his asking price from an initial £280m, Ashley has been unable to attract a serious bidder as he attempts to end his colourful spell at St James’ Park.

Two American consortia expressed an interest via intermediary Keith Harris, but neither has entered into a process of due diligence and, with the global financial situation showing little signs of improving, Ashley has privately conceded that he is unlikely to sell Newcastle before the end of the season.

“I’ve not had a single credible bid,” admitted the Magpies chief, who is expected to discuss his plans for the January transfer window with Kinnear this week.

Ashley has not attended a Newcastle home game since Keegan’s acrimonious departure in early September, but while he still feels it is unsafe for his family to attend matches at St James’, the sportswear magnate insists he harbours no regrets about his decision to invest in the club.

“I’ve made mistakes, sure, but do I regret buying Newcastle? Absolutely not,”

said Ashley. “I had a fantastic year owning a fantastic club. It really was like someone fulfilling their boyhood dream.

Up to a point, I enjoyed every moment of it. I loved it. Of course I’ve made mistakes, but we all have.”