Pardew hails last-gasp hero Remy

Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew hailed Loic Remy as “the best player on the pitch” after he sealed Sunday’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa.

The France international kept his composure to turn away from Ron Vlaar and fire past Brad Guzan in the 92nd minute as Newcastle recorded a first win in five games.

Pardew had seen his side go four home games in the Premier League without a goal, before Remy struck, and the former West Ham boss admitted the barren spell had played on his squad’s minds.

He said: “The best player on the pitch got the goal.

“It was beginning to hang around us that lack of a goal. Our commitment and work-rate are what probably saw us over the line.

“It was an important goal as, although we have 40 points, in the scheme of the last few games it was important.”

The build-up to the match had seen Pardew’s job security questioned in some quarters, though the win put Newcastle back up to eighth in the league table.

Pardew is now determined to end the campaign on a high note, ahead of a close-season in which he hopes to be much more active in the transfer market.

He added: “We can build on this win now and the way we need to build is by finishing strongly and then we can go into the summer (and strengthen).

“We all know as much as we haven’t spent any money in the last 18 months, we have got a nice little kitty there and we’ve got to make good use of it.

“If we make good use of it we can come back stronger next year.”