Perez targets win at QPR

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The 21-year-old striker snatched a point with his seventh goal of the season to secure a 1-1 draw with West Brom at St James’ Park on Saturday, their first point since February 28.

Perez’s strike could not prevent the club from slipping to 17th place in the table, just two points above the drop zone, because of victories for Sunderland and Leicester.

But Newcastle’s fate remains in their own hands with Hull having slipped into the bottom three and facing testing final fixtures against Tottenham and Manchester United.

A win for John Carver’s men at Loftus Road could prove decisive, and that will be the only focus for the former Tenerife frontman and his team-mates.

Perez told nufcTV: “It has given us a lot of confidence, but we need to focus on the next game, QPR, and just go after those three important points.

“It’s a crucial game, a very important game. We need to go there and get the three points. It’s very important.”

Summer signing Perez has been something of a revelation for Newcastle having been thrown in at the deep end because of a combination of Papiss Cisse’s protracted absences through injury, the Africa Cup of Nations and suspension, and Emmanuel Riviere’s difficulties settling into English football.

His side was trailing to Victor Anichebe’s 32nd-minute header when Ryan Taylor’s free-kick was half-cleared and Perez drilled a left-foot snapshot past Boaz Myhill and into the bottom corner.

Asked if it was his most important goal to date for the club, he said: “Yes, undoubtedly.

“We had a really bad start to the game and therefore the goal made up for it. It’s one more goal under my belt, so it was very important.”

Both sides had chances to win the game during a tense second half, with Baggies substitute Saido Berahino being denied by both keeper Tim Krul and the woodwork and Magpies counterpart Sammy Ameobi sending an acrobatic overhead kick just too high at the death.

However, they had to make do with a point apiece, a satisfactory reward for the home side in the circumstances, although two fewer than they had hoped for.

Nevertheless, under-fire head coach John Carver breathed a sigh of relief after fearing the worst as the players lined up in the tunnel before kick-off following his team’s capitulation at Leicester seven days earlier.

He said: “It was probably the worst game we could have had following last week because I looked at the two sides in the tunnel and it was like Land of the Giants.

“They were all 6ft 4in centre-halves at the back, we had 5ft 7in jockeys, and that’s something we have got to look at because set-plays are important.”