Perch: Defence did its job

James Perch believes the Newcastle back-four acquitted itself superbly in their season-opening win against Tottenham.

Perch filled in for injured captain Fabricio Coloccini alongside fit-again Steven Taylor - who was making his first appearance since December - in Saturday's 2-1 defeat of Tottenham. The 26-year-old told the club's website: "The fact that we won the game and the fact they didn't have too many shots on target, I'd like to think that the back four - or back five - did our job. "They're a great team and when we were attacking, that's probably when we were at our most vulnerable because on the counter-attack they're so fast. "To say that they'd hit the bar and the post, you'd probably have to give it to them in the first half, but we came in at half-time, changed our system a little bit and we got our rewards."