AYOZE PEREZ admits Newcastle United have to find a way of transferring their free-flowing away form into their home performances at St James’ Park.

The Magpies were involved in one of the most action-packed games of the season as they drew 2-2 at Norwich City on Tuesday, scoring twice and hitting the woodwork on two separate occasions while also committing a series of errors that allowed their opponents to score two goals of their own at the opposite end.

Newcastle have been involved in a number of memorable away games this season, most notably when they scored six goals at QPR last September, and have accumulated more points on their travels than they have claimed at their own ground.

Whereas opposition teams feel compelled to take Newcastle on when the Magpies are the away side, leaving space for Rafael Benitez’s side to exploit on the counter-attack, the opposite is true on Tyneside.

Newcastle’s opponents tend to adopt a much more defensive outlook at St James’, and with the next two games seeing United host Aston Villa and Bristol City, Perez says his team-mates have to accept that things are different on home turf.

“It’s very different when you play at home,” said the Spaniard, who opened the scoring on Tuesday after just 23 seconds. “When you play at home, teams defend more than they do at home. They know it’s hard to play at St James’.

“They come to do a good job defending, and it’s really hard to break down. It is very different, which is why the form away and the form at home is very different.

“We just have to fight to the end. We have to be focused on Aston Villa now, which we know is going to be another tough game.

“They know how to play against us. At home, it’s even tougher, so we have to deal with that, and try to get the points. That’s the important thing.”

Newcastle only claimed one point at Norwich, but with Brighton drawing at home to Ipswich, the result was still sufficient to keep the Magpies at the top of the Championship table.

They boast a five-point lead over Huddersfield in the first of the play-off places, and while there was obvious disappointment at the manner of their first-half concessions at Carrow Road, there was a high degree of satisfaction at the spirit and resolve that enabled them to battle back to claim a draw in the second half.

Having watched Jamaal Lascelles and Karl Darlow suffer moments to forget as Jacob Murphy and Cameron Jerome scored before the interval, it would have been easy for Newcastle’s players to go under on Tuesday. Instead, they regrouped, equalised through Lascelles, and went close to claiming a winner when Perez and Jonjo Shelvey both saw stoppage-time strikes saved by John Ruddy.

“It could be an important result come May,” said Perez. “In the past, we didn’t win or draw some of these kind of games, so it was important to get a point.

“You could see the character of the team, we came back and fought until the end and we even had two last chances to win the game, but it couldn’t happen.

“We showed some character. We knew the importance of the game, and finally we drew. We’re disappointed because we deserved the three points, but we continue going and that’s one less game to play now.”

Perez delivered the perfect start when he dispatched Jack Colback’s through ball past Ruddy, and the Spaniard is becoming something of a first-minute specialist.

He also scored a first-minute goal in last October’s win over Ipswich, and with Shelvey having scored in the opening 60 seconds against QPR at the start of this month, Newcastle’s opponents will have to be wary of their opponents’ ability to burst out of the traps.

Norwich’s players hadn’t even touched the ball by the time they fell behind on Tuesday, but Perez insists there is nothing fortunate about Newcastle’s remarkable early record.

“We like to push when we start with the kick-off,” he said. “We knew that we had to be really focused from the start, and we like to push, to put the ball there, and to fight for the second ball and try to play in their half.

“We did really well this time. I was able to score from my very first touch, and it was a really good start. Then there were two little mistakes, which can happen in football. The second half was much better though. We fought back well, and could have won it in the end.”