STEVE BRUCE praised the resilience of his Newcastle United players as they twice came from behind to claim a 2-2 draw against West Ham.

The Magpies stretched their unbeaten Premier League run to six matches despite falling behind on two separate occasions at St James’ Park.

Miguel Almiron cancelled out Michail Antonio’s early opener for the Hammers, before Jonjo Shelvey scored within two minutes of Newcastle conceding a second goal to Thomas Soucek.

The result means the Magpies are still to suffer a defeat since the Premier League’s return after lockdown, and Bruce was delighted to see his players digging deep to claim a point.

“I was happy with the result in the end after going behind twice,” said the Newcastle boss. “There are not many teams since the lockdown who have come from behind twice.

“It was probably a fair result in the end. Overall, we’ve got five games to play and if somebody had said with five games to play we’d have 43 points, there would have been a lot said, ‘That’s not possible’, so we’re pleased and we’ll try to keep improving.”

Bruce, who saw Isaac Hayden and Allan Saint-Maximin both depart through injury, was disappointed with his side’s defending for West Ham’s goals, but was delighted with his players’ response on each occasion.

“We gave away a poor first goal and, the second one, we knew they were a threat from set-pieces,” he said. “In that respect, a disappointment, but we’ve shown a great resilience again to come back, especially after going behind twice.

“I think they (the players) have enjoyed playing in the system we’re using at the minute. Yes, we’ve had off days, but the resilience of them all season, they certainly have a pride about their work, which is always a good thing to have in your locker, and all credit to them.

“We always want to win. What we’re trying to do and achieve is keep the ball better but keep playing forward if we can. Once we did that, I thought we looked more of a threat and certainly when you see our goals, we played forward and ran forward and that’s the big improvement, I believe, and why we’ve been so successful over the last few weeks.”

West Ham banked another point for their survival fund, with their draw coming just four days after they recorded a fine win over Chelsea.

With five games remaining, they sit four points clear of the relegation zone and, while their manager, David Moyes, is confident they can stay out of trouble, he knows it could go down to the wire.

"We came to Newcastle, who are in a decent run of form and in a good moment, so I'm really pleased that we've got something from the game,” said the former Sunderland boss. “But I'm maybe a bit disappointed that we didn't get all three points.

"But I have to say the players are showing great fight and we're going to go right to the end. This league could easily go right to the last game of the season - we understand that and we're prepared for that if it has to be done.

"But we're trying to make sure that we can do it as quickly as possible."

The Hammers got off to the perfect start when Antonio converted Jarrod Bowen's fourth-minute cross from close range, although their lead lasted just 13 minutes, Almiron sliding in to dispatch Emil Krafth's driven ball in from the right.

Moyes' men restored their lead with 24 minutes remaining through Soucek, but once again were pegged back, this time within seconds, when Shelvey fired into the bottom corner after exchanging passes with Dwight Gayle amid some less than attentive defending from the visitors.

"I was sickened,” said Moyes. “Just because of us working so hard to get a goal back and then giving it up so quickly.

"We're in a group of games where we think we have got chances of picking up points. If you turned it around and we had got a point against Chelsea and three against Newcastle today, I think people would have said it was a great return."