Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce hailed the performance of Joelinton for Sunday's 2-2 draw with Tottenham.

Joelinton put Newcastle ahead before a double from Harry Kane turned the scoreline around ahead of Joe Willock's equaliser.

Afterwards, Bruce said: "We're pleased but in my opinion it should have been three points. I thought we were the better side. It was as good as I've seen us play for a long, long time. Just disappointed we haven't won it. You take a point. I'm really pleased with the performance.

"All this nonsense we get thrown at us. The spirit and the togetherness in the camp is always going to be there. We have to put up with so much nonsense. The response from the players was clear to see. The spirit is never in doubt. The performance is what we're looking for after such a poor one. To come out and perform against a very good team like Tottenham, I thought the players were excellent.

"That was arguably as good I've seen Joelinton play for us. Probably the easiest thing to do is stick it in the net. His touch is immaculate. He plays with great effort and endeavour. But his all round game today was terrific.

"It's important we stay there [at this performance level]. We put the work in again tomorrow. We have a crucial few weeks. There's a lot of football to be played but if we stay at that level I'm confident we will be okay."