PAUL DUMMETT has felt the effects of relegation on two occasions during his time at Newcastle United – and he hopes the second time has acted as a “blessing in disguise” in Rafael Benitez’s bid to turn the club around.

The Tyneside-born left-back was a young academy prospect in 2009 when his hometown club dropped into the Championship, when Brighton boss Chris Hughton led the charge back to the top-flight at the first attempt.

This time around Dummett is a key first-team player, who has turned out 41 times this season alone, and has been determined to help the drive for an immediate return following relegation 11 months ago.

Benitez has done well to keep Newcastle headed in the right direction given the frustrations in recent years, when there was one problem after another towards the wrong end of the top-flight table.

Dummett, ahead of tonight’s visit of Leeds when Newcastle can take another significant step towards promotion, hopes lessons have been learned and the future is brighter at the club after spending a year outside the top tier.

The 25-year-old said: “You obviously do not want to be relegated. Even if we had stayed up and the manager had stayed I think he would have sorted out what needed to be done anyway.

“But you can look about it both ways really. In a way, us being relegated could be a blessing in disguise. I suppose it has helped the club sort things out and turn things round. Hopefully, we can be on the up now.

“I am from the city and all my family and friends are Newcastle fans. I am the same. Football lives with you all the time. No matter where I go it is always with me. If I go to different family or friends’ families, that is all they speak about – football. So I can never really get away from it.

“It can be hard but this season it has been positive. Everyone I have spoken to has only had good things to say so it has all been a lot more positive.”

Newcastle are still in an extremely strong position going into the Easter period, boasting a ten point cushion over third placed Huddersfield with only five matches remaining.

Nevertheless, after a recent stutter in results that included a defeat at Sheffield Wednesday last weekend, there have been more nerves that they could fall out of the top two.

Dummett said: “It has not surprised me. I always knew it was a difficult league because being an English boy, I always watched the Championship, League One and League Two because I have friends in different leagues and I always take an interest in other leagues.

“It was no surprise to me. A lot of the players knew it was going to be tough because they had played at this level before. I think we have coped well. A lot of other teams who have been relegated have found it difficult and they are mid-table at the moment. We have done really well to be where we are now. We just need to carry on going for the rest of the season.”