EDDIE HOWE remains confident Newcastle United can extricate themselves from relegation trouble at the foot of the Premier League, despite last night’s 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Norwich City extending their winless start to the season to 14 league games.

No side in top-flight history has survived after failing to win any of their opening 14 matches, but the Magpies have entered December still waiting for a first success of the campaign after Ciaran Clark’s ninth-minute dismissal proved costly at St James’ Park.

Clark received a straight red card as he pulled back Teemu Pukki to prevent the Norwich striker from breaking towards goal, and while Newcastle opened the scoring when Callum Wilson scored from the spot midway through the second half, Pukki hammered home a Canaries equaliser with 11 minutes remaining.

The result means the Magpies are six points adrift of safety ahead of Saturday’s home game with Burnley, but Howe remains convinced his players can haul themselves to safety provided they reproduce the spirit and resilience they displayed last night.

“I think there’s wins in the team,” said the Newcastle boss, who was taking charge of his first home game in the St James’ Park dugout. “I really believe so. We needed to improve our defensive resilience and performance, and I thought tonight, we did.

“I thought we showed an improvement, although there’s more improvement to come. Obviously, the attacking side of the team suffered tonight with the red card, but I do believe we have goals in the team.

“I believe we can do it. I still believe it’s in our own hands. But obviously with every game that we don’t win, it becomes harder.”

The complexion of last night’s game changed when Clark hauled back Pukki, and having committed an initial error when his clearance struck the Norwich striker, Howe admits the Irishman compounded his first mistake by acting impulsively to tug at Pukki’s shirt.

“I think in the cold light of day, Ciaran would probably make a different decision, but I think in that moment, probably an impulse has just made him stop the striker,” he said. “It probably is a red card, but these things happen in the game.

“My immediate reaction was not really to focus on that, it was to figure out very quickly what we had to do and try to find a solution to the problem. The last thing I wanted to do was take Ryan Fraser off the pitch, but I felt I had to do that for the team.”

Fraser was replaced by Federico Fernandez, and having been unable to force his way into the matchday squad in the last few weeks, Howe was delighted with the Argentinian’s performance.

“Feddy came in, and I thought he was absolutely magnificent,” he said. “He came in and made a big difference to the team.

“He’s been the ultimate professional. He’s a real leader of the group, a respected figure, and I think he proved today that he’s still an outstanding player. I thought he defended magnificently.”