Newcastle United fullback Danny Simpson admits he loved thumping former club Manchester United this week.

The Toon defender made a brilliant goalline clearance from Wayne Rooney with the score at 2-0.

And Simpson, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Wednesday in style, said: "I said at Old Trafford when we played there my goalline clearance was like scoring a goal, Wednesday's was like a hat-trick!

"As a team we were pretty comfortable but they had a five-minute spell where they had a few chances.

"I dropped back on the line for our keeper Tim Krul and Rooney flashed at it, I managed to get my knee in the way and it went out.

"We got through that spell and as a defender it's probably the next best thing to scoring a goal."