ANDROS TOWNSEND has described how the hours he spent on the training ground away from Tottenham’s first-team squad developed the ball striking quality which has given Newcastle United a huge boost in the fight for Premier League survival.

Townsend was on the periphery of things at Spurs under Mauricio Pochettino, and often asked to play and train with the under-21s, but he always tried to stay focused and not get downhearted.

His time in the Tottenham wilderness, however, led to him working on his free-kicks and he scored one for the first time in his career against Crystal Palace to seal a crucial three points for Magpies in the battle to beat the drop.

Townsend’s strike was of the highest quality and would normally be associated with a free-kick specialist, which is something he hopes he will develop into during his time at St James’ Park.

He said: “It couldn’t come at a better time. At half-time I was beating myself up a bit - I missed a few chances and was a bit wasteful on the ball. I knew I just needed that one more chance to make everyone forget about the rest. I’m delighted that I managed to pull it off. “It’s a funny story how I ended up taking it. When I was thrown into the Under-21s by Spurs, I used to stay, me and one other player, behind.

“We used to stay for hours just practising free-kicks, left foot and right, until the fitness coaches came out and told us to save our legs. All that stuff pays off when you score in front of 52,000 people to help your team get three points.”

That strike has taken Townsend’s goal tally to four in 11 appearances since his £10m move from Tottenham in January. That has already more than the three he scored in 50 Premier League outings during his time at White Hart Lane.

He said: “I was always going to take it. I was weighing up which side of the wall to go. I normally go the other side, but the wall was so tall, so I decided to have a pop at the keeper’s side, try to wrong foot him, and it worked out perfectly.

“I’m delighted for the players, the staff, the fans and the city. We deserved that win. Two more games now, two more massive cup finals and hopefully we can get six points and stay up.”

After climbing out of the bottom three over the weekend by defeating Palace, Newcastle’s players are back in training this morning to start preparations for Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa.

Having increased the chances of staying up by collecting eight points from the last 12 available, Townsend insists there is a desire within the camp to make sure they follow it up with victories over Villa and then Tottenham.

Norwich and Sunderland have both played a game less, and Townsend said: “We can only do our job. If we win the next two games and it is not enough, what can we do?

“We have just got to do our business and hope the other teams around us drop enough points for us to stay up. That’s all we can do. We are just focused on our own games.

“You would rather have points on the board than games in hand. We have got points on the board, we are above the relegation zone, and it is down to the other teams now to pick up points in their game in hand. We have done our job, we continue to do our job and hopefully the other teams around us drop points.”

The improved results have coincided with clear signs of greater togetherness on the pitch, which has been a criticism of the team for the majority of the season.

Townsend added: “I think you can see how together we are on the pitch. As soon as we went 1-0 up, everyone was focused, the wingers were helping out the defenders, the strikers were coming back in. Everyone was together, everyone was working for each other. We all deserved the three points as a team.”