DARYL JANMAAT has likened Newcastle United’s recent winning run to the string of victories that took Holland to the brink of the World Cup final in Brazil this summer.

Last weekend’s 1-0 win over QPR made it six successive victories for the Magpies, who have risen to fifth in the Premier League table after being in the relegation zone as recently as a month ago.

Janmaat has started all six of those successes, and was also a key member of the Holland side that strung together five victories to reach the World Cup semi-final this summer before suffering a heart-breaking penalty shoot-out defeat to Argentina.

Just as precious few people predicted Newcastle’s remarkable turnaround in the last few weeks, so there was hardly a stampede of supporters tipping Holland to go as far as they did in Brazil.

On both occasions, however, Janmaat has found himself lining up in a side boosted by a powerful sense of momentum, with further victories arriving as a result.

“Sometimes, you just seem to get some momentum behind you and the results roll on and on,” said the right-back, who was a surprise omission from the Dutch squad for the most recent round of international games. “That is what happened with us with Holland in the World Cup.

“We started winning matches, and every time we went out onto the field, we had a feeling that we would win the game. We had a lot of confidence in ourselves, and that confidence comes from getting positive results and performances. That is what happened with Holland, and it is what is happening here at Newcastle now.”

Despite being drawn in a World Cup group that featured reigning champions Spain and hotly-tipped South Americans Chile, Holland progressed to the knockout rounds with a perfect record of three wins from three.

They then went on to see off Mexico and Costa Rica in the knockout stages, and while the fluency of their attacking play hogged the headlines as they put five goals past Spain in their opening game, it was the quality of their defending that saw them through to the last four.

They only conceded once to Mexico despite being under the cosh for large periods of their second-round game, and kept a clean sheet as they edged past Costa Rica on penalties with Janmaat one of their stand-out performers in the full-back berth.

The 25-year-old has been equally influential in Newcastle colours in the last few weeks, with his diligent defending and driving attacking runs playing a major role in the Magpies’ revival.

Alan Pardew’s side have conceded just one goal in their last six matches, and while their defensive personnel have changed because of injury, the quality of their defending has not dipped.

“It is important to be strong defensively, because if you defend well and have good players in attack, you will always have a good chance of winning the game,” said Janmaat.

“A lot of people concentrated on our attacking in the summer (with Holland) and obviously in the Spain game we scored a lot of goals, but we were very strong defensively and everything really started from there. A strong defence has to be the start for every team. At the moment, I am very satisfied with that side of our (Newcastle’s) game.”

Newcastle’s defending was especially reliable last weekend, with QPR barely creating a chance as they were beaten by Moussa Sissoko’s second-half strike.

“We always knew that the QPR match was going to be an important game because we knew before we had started that if we won, we could go up to fourth or fifth position,” said Janmaat.

“It was an important match, and at moments I thought we played very well. They didn’t really create a chance, so it was a good win.”

Newcastle’s next outing takes them to West Ham United on Saturday, and while Siem de Jong will not be available for the trip to Upton Park, the Dutchman’s return to action has moved a major step closer after he returned to light training yesterday.

The Dutch midfielder, who was one of the Magpies’ major summer signings as he completed a £6m move from Ajax, has been sidelined since tearing his thigh muscle in August.

He underwent surgery to repair the problem, but tweeted his relief at “finally having (his) boots back on” yesterday and should be available for a first-team return in another couple of weeks.