Pardew backs Magpies to continue their flight up table

Newcastle are now fifth in the Premier League, but they face Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United as well as the derby with Sunderland in December.

That's a daunting schedule, yet Pardew is confident they can continue a remarkable upsurge that has rocketed them up the table.

"It is a tough December - there's no doubt about that - but the team is in such a good place," Pardew said.

"We were so disciplined today. I think anybody who recognises Premier League football and watches it on a regular basis would see that as a really powerful performance from a young team, so that was really good for us."

Newcastle began the season with performances and form that pointed towards a relegation battle. They are now playing like a team hinting at qualifying for Europe.

Queens Park Rangers have enjoyed a mini-renaissance of their own, but it petered out here. Harry Redknapp's side are bottom of the table and if they continue to deliver such uninspiring away displays, one of English football's most colourful characters will be looking for new employment.

It is tight at the bottom of the table, and clustered at the top, but Newcastle have catapulted themselves out of trouble.

If one player has epitomised their remarkable revival it is Sissoko, so it was fitting that this sixth successive victory in all competitions was secured by this strange player.

Timid, seemingly uninterested and largely anonymous as Newcastle lurched from one bad performance to the next, Sissoko has been immense since he scored the second goal in the Magpies' shock League Cup win at Manchester City last month.

He had started that cup tie on the bench and emerged from it looking like a player Newcastle could turn to in a crisis. This is the player who looked so forbidding for France at the World Cup in Brazil. Powerful, quick, direct and skilful. He is, at times, the closest the Premier League has to another Yaya Toure.

"When we started the season, we had a lot of new players," said Sissoko, who was made captain by Pardew in the absence of the injured Fabricio Coloccini, Cheick Tiote and Siem de Jong.

"It wasn't easy, but the team have worked hard on the training ground and we are much stronger now."

Pardew has turned his side into a well-organised defensive unit with blistering counter-attacking ability. This was illustrated by their winner.

Yoan Gouffran broke up a QPR attack. The ball was shifted quickly forward, allowing Sissoko to smash through the defence, with the help of a one-two with Sammy Ameobi, and apply a classy finish.

What was not so good for Pardew and his players was the sight of Ryan Taylor leaving the pitch in tears just 34 minutes into his first league start for 993 days, after fighting his way back from two cruciate ligament injuries.

The midfielder could have been forgiven for fearing the worst when he slumped to the ground in some distress after anxiously flexing his knee.

By chance, the surgeon who operated on him, Richard Steadman, was among the crowd at St James' Park and accompanied him to hospital, and Taylor later allayed concerns over any significant damage via his Twitter account.(© Independent News Service)