"We showed admirable maturity in terms of not doing anything rash which would have left us exposed. The team gave a monumental physical effort, which was heightened in the closing stages by the sending-off."
Opposite number Alan Pardew felt his side were on the wrong end of key decisions, with the possible sending-off of Kelvin Wilson and a potential second-half penalty raising his ire.
"We want consistency and if it had been the other way round, in my view, our centre-half would have gone," he said.
"There was no reaction from the crowd. They all knew he was in trouble and he had to have conviction in his decision there.
"We should have had a penalty because the header was going in and it hit a hand, admittedly it was close."