Newcastle have proved that they can win without Carroll.

Losing Andy Carroll for the game against Wigan yesterday afternoon was a massive blow, but by the end of the match, Carroll was just a fleeting thought in the minds of the majority of Newcastle fans.

I must admit, I personally wondered what we were going to do. I couldn't see us getting an all-important win against a team that is likely to be a relegation rival. I don't think I was alone in thought either given just how important Carroll has become to Newcastle. It would appear that I was wrong on that score though, and the players that were brought in managed to step up to the plate in the absence of our hottest property, which is great in fairness.

Make no mistake, Carroll is important to us, and will continue to be important for us for as long as he is wearing the black and white stripes, but getting the win without him yesterday was an important psychological achievement for the rest of the squad. They now know that they don't have to rely in their star man.

You see, when you have a talismanic player, there can sometimes be an over-reliance on that player. Sometimes people don't even know how much they rely on something, like a mobile phone for example - it's something you have that does the job, but imagine life without it now. Andy Carroll is our mobile phone, or at least he was just before kick-off yesterday.

I'm not saying that we won't feel the absence of the lad, because we will, but the main point is that it has been proven that we can win without him, albeit against a very poor Wigan side. This will hopefully give those players who are charged with playing whilst Carroll recovers the confidence and belief that they can do the job. Never underestimate the power of confidence in sport.

Confidence will be important when West Ham come to town on Wednesday evening, and Newcastle will have to believe that they can do some damage to The Hammers after their recent upsurge in form. If our lads can play to their abilities then there is no doubt that we can take the points at St James' Park. We have to be aiming to take three points anyway as we are the home side and should be looking to take the bull by the horns.

And we can do it without Andy Carroll!