JAMAAL LASCELLES is determined to make his mark on Newcastle United’s first team this season, and is confident the Magpies will pull away from relegation trouble if they maintain the form they have displayed in the last couple of weeks.

Despite joining Newcastle in 2014, Lascelles only moved to the North-East this summer after spending the whole of last season on loan at Nottingham Forest.

He is still to make his maiden Premier League start, but having come off the bench in the closing stages of last weekend’s goalless draw with Stoke City, the 21-year-old finds himself as his side’s third-choice centre-half behind Fabricio Coloccini and Chancel Mbemba.

With Mike Williamson on loan at Wolves and Steven Taylor nursing a long-term injury that is likely to keep him sidelined until the turn of the year, Lascelles would have started against the Potters had Coloccini’s dismissal against Sunderland not been overturned.

As it was, he came on in the final ten minutes, and after coming close to a winner with a header that Jack Butland tipped over the crossbar, the defender is confident of making a positive impact in the not-too-distant future.

“I understand that I’m still quite young and that I’ve moved from a Championship to a Premier League team so I’ve got to be patient,” said Lascelles.

“There’s a lot of competition at the back so I’m not going to be expecting to play, but I’m going to ready and, if called upon, I will do my part.”

Lascelles’ failure to beat Butland on Saturday meant Newcastle were forced to settle for a result that means they now won just one of their opening 11 league games this season.

They remain rooted in the bottom three ahead of this weekend’s trip to relegation rivals Bournemouth, but despite having picked up just a point from their last two matches against Sunderland and Stoke, Lascelles insists Steve McClaren’s side are heading in the right direction.

“We’re going the right way,” he said. “Obviously we didn’t win against Stoke, and Sunderland beat us 3-0, but we were the better team by miles in that game (the derby) and one bad decision can change the game.

“If you look at the stats after the game - possession, shots on target - we were all over them the whole game. Like I said, though, one wrong decision changes the whole game. But we’re playing really good football and everyone knows that.

“If we keep doing that, I know we’ll get our rewards. We’ve put up some good games against some really good teams this season.

“We’ve got Bournemouth away on Saturday, and we need to start cashing in a bit. We need to get the three points because we can’t just keep getting a point every week or losing. We need to kick on and start moving our way up the table.”

They will attempt to do that at the weekend without Jack Colback, with the midfielder admitting he is unlikely to be back in action for another month-and-a-half following his injury in the derby defeat at the Stadium of Light.

“Where my foot was planted, it just twisted the wrong way,” said Colback, who sustained the damage in a challenge with Lee Cattermole. “It’s unfortunate, but it happens.

The Northern Echo:

INJURY BLOW: Jack Colback leaves the field after injuring himself during Newcastle's derby defeat to Sunderland

“I had an initial scan where we feared I was going to be out a bit longer, but that was followed by a further scan and we then went to see a specialist in London who gave us the better news that it’s around six weeks. It was as good as it could have been.”