Ciaran Clark lauds Newcastle’s outstanding set-piece record

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Newcastle have already scored 10 goals following set pieces in the Championship this season and grabbed two in their 6-0 triumph at QPR.

Newcastle United defender Ciaran Clark praised his new club’s set-piece threat after he opened his account with a well taken header in the 6-0 demolition of Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, speaking to the club’s website.

The Magpies are flying high in the Championship with five wins in a row and 16 goals scored already this season, with a huge 10 of them coming following dead-ball situations.

Clark’s first United goal came from a Matt Ritchie corner as he headed in his side’s fourth of the evening before later setting up fellow defender Grant Hanley following another Ritchie set-piece.

Jonjo Shelvey was also twice on target while young forwards Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrovic got in on the action as Newcastle ran riot in West London.

And speaking after the match, Clark told nufc.co.uk: “I was buzzing to score. I wasn’t too worried about (Aleksandar Mitrovic) in front of me. I just tried to keep my eye on the ball and make sure I got a good connection, and thankfully it went in

“With the quality of the set-pieces coming in, we’ve always got a chance of getting on the end of them. Jonjo and Matty are brilliant with corners and free-kicks and we are a real threat from them now.

“We practice it in training and thankfully it came off out there and I managed to get my head on one.”

The Magpies set-piece record will come as a welcome change to what they had to endure in the Premier League as they notoriously went over two years without scoring from a corner, whereas last night they scored two in 23 minutes.

In fact, Newcastle have now scored more goals purely from set-pieces than 17 of the other 23 Championship clubs have scored in total – a quite remarkable stat.

This drastic turnaround in terms of their threat from set-pieces is no small part down to the arrival of Ritchie, as the former Bournemouth man has played a part in five of United’s goals from dead-ball situations so far this season.

It seems clear that Benitez has been keen to address a longstanding problem at the club and it could prove to be the key in the Magpies bid to return to the Premier League at the first attempt.