Jan 2, 2017 at 3pm UK at ​Ewood Park
Attendance: 18,524
BlackburnBlackburn Rovers
1-0
NewcastleNewcastle United
Mulgrew (74')
Lowe (53')
FT(HT: 0-0)

Dummett (64'), Colback (73')

Owen Coyle: 'Newcastle United win should be a catalyst'

Wigan Athletic manager Owen Coyle prior to kick-off against Doncaster on August 20, 2013
© Getty Images
Blackburn Rovers manager Owen Coyle says that he hopes his side's surprise victory over Newcastle United will act as "a catalyst".

Blackburn Rovers manager Owen Coyle has said that his side's surprise victory over Newcastle United on Monday should serve as "a catalyst" for the rest of their season.

Charlie Mulgrew struck the only goal of the game to hand Rovers all three points and move them to just one point from safety.

The result represented just the third clean sheet for Coyle's side this season, and the Scot is adamant that they must now draw confidence going forwards.

"As I said to the lads afterwards, this has got to be the catalyst moving forward and not another false dawn as we did before when we beat Brentford, Newcastle and drew with Huddersfield," Coyle told reporters after the match. "We stood up to a wonderful team and picked up an excellent three points.

"We have been playing reasonably well, we've played a lot of games where we should have taken points, and with our injury problems that we've had, we've been chopping and changing.

"We didn't pass the ball as well as we would have liked [today] and didn't make the most of our counter-attacking opportunities so the message at half time was to make sure we took more care of the ball as we always believed that we could cause them problems. We accepted that they would always be a danger to our backline but then Charlie Mulgrew came up with a wonderful free kick."

Next up for Rovers is a trip to fellow Championship side Queens Park Rangers in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Rafael Benitez during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Swansea City on April 16, 2016
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton24166240152554
2Newcastle UnitedNewcastle25171748202852
3Reading2414463632446
4Huddersfield TownHuddersfield2514473028246
5Leeds UnitedLeeds25143834241045
6Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds2512672824442
7Derby CountyDerby2511772418640
8Barnsley2511594337638
9Norwich CityNorwich25114104137437
10Fulham2499641301136
11Preston North EndPreston2510693332136
12Aston Villa2581162624235
13Birmingham CityBirmingham259883035-535
14Brentford2596103231133
15Ipswich TownIpswich2587102529-431
16Wolverhampton WanderersWolves2578103234-229
17Queens Park RangersQPR2585122436-1229
18Bristol City2583143335-227
19Cardiff CityCardiff2476112738-1127
20Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest2575133745-826
21Burton Albion2567122634-825
22Blackburn RoversBlackburn2566132940-1124
23Wigan AthleticWigan2547142031-1119
24Rotherham UnitedRotherham2534182555-3013