Club legend Alan Shearer has praised Newcastle’s ‘hard work’ and ‘spirit’ following yesterday’s 1-0 win over Chelsea – and highlighted Ciaran Clark’s display as the best of the bunch.
Shearer let his 780,000 Twitter followers know his thoughts on what was a gritty and determined victory last night, describing our win as ‘hard fought’ and ‘defensively solid’.
All three centre-backs were superb, but the former Newcastle striker picked out Clark for special praise – and rightly so, with the 30-year-old deserving real credit after becoming one of the club’s unsung heroes recently:
The added praise to Ciaran Clark was echoed by many fans on social media, with the Irish international not putting a foot wrong over the 90 minutes, just as he has done many times before.
Clark has often been overlooked for a place in this Newcastle side. With 6 first-team centre-half options available, the flair of a Schar, a Lejeune or even a Fernandez usually sees the 30-year-old pushed down the pecking order.
Clark has been a class act from the day he was signed and was particularly immense in the Championship season – but he’s proving he’s more than good enough at Premier League level these days.
Another thing that gives him an edge over his defensive counterparts is his threat at the other end of the pitch, with Clark having a knack of scoring an important goal for us from a set-piece. He’s scored 5 times in his last 21 appearances.
After solid back-to-back defensive displays against Wolves and now Chelsea, Clark will be hopeful of a consistent run in defence towards the end of the season.
With his contract set to expire in 18 months, he’ll be knocking on the door for a new deal this summer if he can keep this sort of form up.
