Newcastle United boss Alan Shearer was delighted with his players after their 1-1 draw at Stoke City.

United should have been dead and buried by the time Gateshead-born striker Andy Carroll scored an 81st-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Stoke to give United their first point under Shearer.

Stoke captain and former Magpies midfielder Abdoulaye Faye's 33rd-minute opener came in a first half dominated by Tony Pulis' side.

Shearer, who concedes he is finding management "anything but easy", said: "The attitude of the players has been great.

"In the second half I thought they showed me what they had done in training during the week.

"They showed they can pass it, they can play, and with a little bit more confidence and belief in themselves then we will go on and get results - certainly that's the aim.

"After going a goal down I thought they handled the situation well because there have been too many times this season when Newcastle have conceded a goal, then crumbled and conceded another.

"But it was far from that today as you saw players throwing their bodies on the line, throwing themselves into tackles and prepared to get cut.

"We're going to need all of that, and a little bit more, if we are to survive.

"But the belief is there, which is okay in training, but you have to produce it in the big arena.

"We did that in the second half, and they should take great heart from that - I take great heart from that because I've now seen it in a game.

"We've done it for 45 minutes, but we now have to do it in every game we play."