Rafa Benitez pleased with Newcastle fightback against Sunderland

Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez was pleased after his side fought back to claim a point in their 1-1 draw with Sunderland at St James' Park on Sunday.

Benitez's side fell behind to Jermain Defoe's first-half strike, but stole a point late on through Aleksandar Mitrovic's header.

"We didn't play the level we could in the first half but we were much better in the second," Benitez told Sky Sports.

"It was a good reaction, with the position we are in the table to come back and get the point was a credit to the players.

"We knew they are a strong team physically and we knew it would be free-kicks, corners and second balls. We tried to play and keep it on the floor and we did it much better second half."

The result leaves Newcastle in the relegation zone, three points adrift of safety, but Benitez is still confident of survival with eight games to go - especially if they can keep the fans behind them.

"The positive thing for me is we are still there with eight games to play," said Benitez. "So I told the players after the game that was the main thing.

"We have to work this week and next week to prepare for Norwich. Hopefully we can change little things and keep doing the good things we're doing.

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"The main thing for me is we could see the fans supporting the team, and hopefully it will be the same in every game."

While Georginio Wijnaldum, who created Mitrovic's equaliser, was disappointed to just get the point.

"I'm not happy because we wanted to win," he told Sky Sports. "But it's football, we played our best and we have to go on.

"It's really important because now we must collect more points, but I'm disappointed because we had great opportunities to win."