John Carver and his Newcastle players are up for the fight

John Carver emerged from a dramatic week defiantly claiming that Newcastle United have enough character to beat relegation.

The Magpies ended an eight-match run of defeats with a home draw against West Brom but slipped down the table to fourth bottom.

However, caretaker Head Coach Carver insisted: “This was a huge point for us.

“It was our biggest game since we lost at Aston Villa and got relegated. Now we go on to the next one at QPR but our destiny is in our hands.

“We’ve got to deal with it. We can’t afford to rely on other people. We’ve got to take care of our own business. And I saw enough today to believe we can do that.

“The performance was the most important thing to me. It showed that people here and I include myself are up for this fight.

“There’s big relief because we’ve stopped the run of defeats but the work is still to be done.

“We showed character. From the first whistle to the last, there was one team trying to win the game and one team trying to steal it from a set-piece.”

Carver made the headlines last week with his claims that centre-back Mike Williamson had deliberately got himself sent off at Leicester, and again when he said he was the best coach in the Premier League.

But after being so verbal, maybe he thought he’d said enough.

His programme notes for yesterday’s match ran to just 34 words and could be summed up by the first six: “The time for talking is over.”

“It’s just been another week in my world!” he said.

“It’s been a tough week. An awful lot has been said. Some things I said were taken in the wrong context.

“When I play golf, I think I’m best golfer in world. As a boy, I thought I was the best all-round cricketer in the world.”

Albion’s point mathematically ensured they’d be playing Premier League football next season, and manager Tony Pulis was in no mood to disguise his delight.

“This was probably the toughest job I’ve had in lots of respects, so I’m really pleased personally,” he said.

“For all sorts of reasons that I’ll go into later, I’ve had more stressful days and sleepless nights than I had at either Stoke or Palace.

“I’m delighted with our performance. It’s the responsibility of every club in the League irrespective of the position they’re in that you respect the supporters who pay your wages and we had nearly 2,000 here.

“You also have to respect the League. The Premier League is the toughest in the world and you only have to look at the teams at the bottom, and the way they’ve scrapped and picked up points, to recognise that.”