Boss Roy Keane was disappointed to leave St James’ Park with only a draw after the Blues’ impressive display against champions Newcastle United. The Town manager singled young striker Connor Wickham out for praise.

Keane said: "We did well. Obviously, we have to look at whether Newcastle were in holiday mode - maybe some of them were - but I am disappointed with a draw, so if we had lost the game, I would have been properly upset.

"I thought we deserved it. We had the better of the chances and scored two good goals, but we gave a bad second goal away. But there were a lot of positives.

"Connor scored a top goal and his general forward play was very good and we had some good spells in the game.

"Our fans were terrific for us again and taking a point from Newcastle is a sign of the progress we have made when you think back to the result against them at our place earlier in the season.

"We have got a long way to go yet until we can match Newcastle though. You only have to look at their bench with international players like Nicky Butt, Joey Barton and Alan Smith on there to see the difference."

Meanwhile, chief executive Simon Clegg has reiterated that Keane will be at the club next season but conceded that the side needs to perform significantly better next season: “There is a timescale to everything and as far as the manager is concerned it is acute with his contract ending in 14 months' time.

“We are working for an owner who is an extremely successful businessman and one that is not used to failure.

“Roy will here next season. He is committed to the club and the club is committed to him.

“We are planning for the summer and into next season. On players that could be coming in and those we feel ought to move on."

Clegg says Marcus Evans remains committed to getting the club promoted: “Marcus’s aims have not differed and he will continue to invest to take this great club back to the Premier League.

“But no budget for next season has been agreed yet and he does not have a bottomless pit of money.”

Newcastle boss Chris Hughton knows that his side face a difficult 2010/11 in the Premier League: "We know, of course, it will be a very tough season because we are in a very, very tough league.

"You have to look forward to it. As a manager, as a group of players, as a club, it's where we want to be and we have worked very hard for it, so you have to look forward to it."

Photo: Action Images

Redmond added 00:05 - Apr 25 I thought we should of won too but never mind, yes look at there bench but look at the starting 11 they hardly sold any1 in the summer they kept great players like Nolan and Jones but never mind hopefully the start of something great.
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moomoosereni added 00:47 - Apr 25 Very good result today and surpassed my expectations! Be glad to see the back of this season, with very little to cheer about. Here's looking to a good off season and some good quality signings to hopefully get us back up in the top flight. Nice to hear all the Town fans stuck around to show their respects to the Newcastle team for when they lifted the trophy. It's stuff like that, that makes our fans some of the most respected, loved fans in the country.

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brockleyblueboy added 01:49 - Apr 25 Great result and shame we couldn't have won but good effort. It looks like Connor is going from strength to strength and its a shame the season is coming to an end for him as he grows with every game, just hope he can continue that into next season. Is he the 20+ goal striker we have been searching for? ;-) Also shows the passion and expectations of Keane the fact that he feels we should be beating Newcastle. Roll on next season. COYB

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bennyblue added 01:56 - Apr 25 roy how many times have i heard this im very dissapointed sh-tetalk after a game this year you may be but so are we roy so are we.......................i reckon they were ripe for the taking today mind on other things partying etc of which you so strongly disaprove "plonker" but no it was not to be another draw if we cant beat a bunch of half drunk geordies who have nothing too prove who are already PARTYING despite what you think who can we beatwhen it comes to the top teams your team is light years away roy

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jamesy_itfc_keano added 07:31 - Apr 25 Totaly agree with brockleyblueboy. It shows where keano has his sights set for next year. I personaly dont care whether they were in party mode or not. We still had to put in a good performance and do our bit. COYB!
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richietoon added 08:32 - Apr 25 Just blogging to say thanks to the Town fans who stayed behind for the presentation.I thought the player was offside for your 2nd(havnt seen a replay yet so may be wrong) but you deserved it and probably the best result for Sir Bobby.The young lad up front for you is going to be a star imo.Best of luck for next year.HWTL
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Tillz9 added 08:45 - Apr 25 Bennyblue....do you not consider a point away at newcastle a good result ?? It seems your only agenda is to moan about keane regardless of anything.
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PimsNumber1 added 09:05 - Apr 25 BENNYBLUE=rooster !
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brogansnose added 09:36 - Apr 25 Fantastic result, if the Toon didnt have much to play for then neither did we, so credit where credits due. Hope fully we can get a good result next Sunday and roll this over to next season so we dont have to play damage limitation football again. richietoon...good luck in the Premier next season.
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brogansnose added 09:39 - Apr 25 Bennyblue ; its fair to critisise when its constructive or obvious but that post is totally uncalled for.
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SurreyITFC added 10:05 - Apr 25 Bennyblue - Are you really an ITFC Fan? Every comment you post is moaning about Keane! I know we all hoped for a better season but lets look at it. The season started poorly, but with time Keane has built a solid defence albeit a couple of poor results since. I think now Keane has sorted the defence out he can go an find the experienced midfielder, and a striker we need for a productive season next year. Great teams teams are built from the back! COYB & KEANO KEANO KEANO

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tom_the_blue added 10:36 - Apr 25 Good result lads, Wickham is starting to look quality, next season could be an exciting one. Nice for Walters to get a goal, hopefully silence a few critics and help him get back to his best.
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jamesy_itfc_keano added 10:41 - Apr 25 gd luck in the prem richietoon! Hopefuly we will be joining you the season after next. Keano!!
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Mark added 10:57 - Apr 25 A good result yesterday (I am not disappointed with it) and hopefully we can follow it up with a good win and performance against Sheffield Utd on Sunday to give us heart for next season, the development of Wickham being the most exciting aspect to look forward too. So Clegg has confirmed that Keane will be here next season and at least that is said (the last confirmation I heard was that he would be in charge against Reading). That budget does need to be agreed very soon and I hope that Evans can afford a further large investment in the team, as clearly we still need to improve some key areas. Personally I would focus on an attacking left-midfielder, and a striker to play alongside Wickham/Stead (not wanting to rely totally on Wickham due to his age). It's better to go for quality I think and I am not sure we need five new additions as Keane is proposing. Anyway, a few weeks ago we feared a heavy defeat at Newcastle would send us into League One, and now we get a point there and stay mid-table so let's take a positive from that.

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bedsitfc added 10:58 - Apr 25 bennyblue - does matron know you have access to the internet
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buryblue77 added 12:10 - Apr 25 Good result and hopefully the sign of things to come. Yes, Newcastle may have won the Championship but I'd say they still had something to play for, psychological barriers of topping the 100 point mark for the season and the fact they are still unbeaten at home, winners don't just give up they'll look for the next step so I don't think they rolled over in any way for this game.

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Tractorog added 12:40 - Apr 25 To moan about Keane is pretty pointless. He has 14 months left on his contract, given how close we came to relegation relatively late on in the season, it is unlikely he is going to be sacked before his contract expires. So whinging about Keane is pointless. Either back him or wait for him to be replaced next summer, but either way shut up with the moaning it is not going to achieve anything beyond boring the rest of us.

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osborne1nil added 12:45 - Apr 25 A good result against the best team in the Championship. Exceeded my expectations (which was a loss) so well done guys. In fact if Leadbitter had been more careful with his challenge and not given away the penalty then who knows we may of just of got the 3 points. IF Roy is here next year, IMO it is important that they have a tough pre season against much more difficult opponents than last pre season which followed on into the worst start in history. This would also help to establish the first 11 too.

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chripswich added 15:07 - Apr 25 anyone who thought that newcastle werent up for it should have been there...they wanted desperately to keep the home record intact we were outstanding yesterday..in front of 52,000 we could have been intimidated and folded, we didnt, we were in my opinion the better side...and that was also the opinion of the geordies i went with...they said we were the best they'd seen at St james Park this season.. walters equaliser was the least we deserved.. i am a total keano fan as everyone knows having read blogs etc..but he really should have simply said how great we were and not mentioned "holidays modes" I didnt see anyone in a black and white shirt in holiday mode, just them running around alot after red shirts controlling the game for many periods... to a small degree we spoiled their party...and thats just great!! ands wickhme wasnt just good, he was outstanding and did his reputation no harm with the football world...big strong experienced defenders who had won the league at a canter simply didnt know what to do with him i was very proud to be a blue yesterday

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chripswich added 15:09 - Apr 25 dont know what happened to "and wickham..." apols
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jas0999 added 15:27 - Apr 25 Despite the excellent result ... still people moan. Simply unbelievable. Roy is so ambitious and has such high standards he is disappointed with a draw against the best team in the league away from home! This is great. Shame some still have time to moan about him and slate him. I think it's time that these people go and support another club - because if they can't say anything positive after an outstanding result, what hope is there?

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Lightningboy added 19:37 - Apr 25 Keane disappointed with draw. Me disappointed with season.
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Lightningboy added 19:43 - Apr 25 Oh,and I hope Leadbittter grows up a little over the summer...he's an ok player but not worth £3.5m of our valuable money & at times he comes across as infantile & petulant on the pitch. We need leaders in the middle Grant , not kids throwing dummies out of their prams when things don't go their way...passion is great only if channelled in the correct way.
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stoofer added 19:44 - Apr 25 think we all understand newcastle probably took there eye off the job in hand,due to the promotion party, but lets take the positives nufc dont concede too many goals at home, conner looks like hes getting there,to put in performance with the character to come back after being behind twice in front of a full house deserves credit ,proves the players are behind keane no matter what some posts might have you believe, iknow its been a painful season but give a little credit where due.we have a long way to go,im not getting carried away but we have to believe.

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bennyblue added 05:10 - Apr 26 ward dissapointed with keane
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