Newcastle produced the perfect reaction, says Steve McClaren

Steve McClaren was thrilled as Newcastle produced the "perfect reaction" to their heavy defeat to Everton with a 1-0 victory over West Brom on Saturday.

Aleksandar Mitrovic scored the only goal of the game as the Magpies climbed out of the relegation zone at St James' Park, three days after their 3-0 defeat at Goodison Park.

Moussa Sissoko, Georginio Wijnaldum and Mitrovic also squandered chances to extend Newcastle's lead, but McClaren was still delighted with his side's attacking play.

"It was imperative we won the game," McClaren said. "We asked for a reaction and we got the perfect reaction. The game should not have been close at the end, to have those last 10 minutes as we did, we had so many chances to make it 2-0.

"[But] we kept a clean sheet, we had some fantastic attacking play, a great crowd and a great atmosphere, and a good reaction."

The Magpies boss turned to Rolando Aarons at left-back with Chancel Mbemba, Paul Dummett and Jamal Lascelles all unavailable, and despite the defensive injury concerns, Newcastle responded with their first clean sheet in 10 league games.

January signings Andros Townsend and Jonjo Shelvey were replaced to standing ovations late on, and McClaren paid tribute to impressive performances across the team.

"We were riddled with injuries today, especially at the back, and we hope by the time we get to Chelsea we have Jack Colback back," McClaren continued. "After that, we've got quite a few coming back and once they return, the squad gets stronger.

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"Aarons playing left-back was absolutely fantastic, and with Andros we had real energy and pace. On the right-hand side with [Daryl] Janmaat and Sissoko we got a lot of balls into the box.

"A lot of players came in today and did well, [Steven] Taylor was immense and [Cheick] Tiote also, who hasn't trained in a few weeks.

"He's been to China and back, and we took a risk on him today. He's come back with a smile on his face. When Jonjo has got time and space he can pick out anyone and we've got good runners and good energy. West Brom defended well, but if we continue to play like that we'll be alright."

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Tiote thought he'd opened the scoring shortly before Mitrovic's strike, but referee Lee Mason ruled out his long-range effort with the Serbian striker in an offside position.

The Newcastle forward didn't appear to touch the ball, although may have been blocking West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster's view, and McClaren was confused why it was disallowed.

"I can't believe it was disallowed," he added. "I've sent it briefly, it's a goal. I can't understand it."