Newcastle United defender Paul Dummett insists their 0-0 draw with West Brom can prove a valuable point.

The defender certainly did his bit in a strong defensive display from Steve Bruce's side, even if they couldn't find a way past the Baggies, who have shown signs of improvement under Sam Allardyce in recent weeks.

"It was a difficult game," Dummett told nufc.co.uk. "Unfortunately we couldn't win the game today; a point probably wasn't what we wanted but I think we have to look on the positive side of things and that one point could be crucial come the end of the season.

"Coming into the game, the intention was to get three points but the longer the game goes on, the last five minutes they were pushing and you've got to be careful that you don't get no points from the game.

"Today there was only one for us to take but like I said, you have to try to take positives from the game. We're at a difficult moment of the season and the last thing you can do is give up, and I think you could see that we didn't give up right to the end.

"They played a lot of long balls, the game was slowed down, the pitch was pretty long and dry right from the start and affected the way we want to play - and fed into the way they played.

"The last few weeks, we've been fluent in our play and played some good football but today was a bit of a different game, and we had to show determination not to lose.

"As a back four, we wanted a clean sheet and it gave us a good platform to try to win the game. It's a team game and we couldn't win the game but at the same time, we made sure we didn't concede to give ourselves the best chance."