Benitez keeping feet on ground
Newcastle United 2 Stoke City 1
Jamaal Lascelles of Newcastle United celebrates after he scores the winning goal. Photo: Getty Images
Rafa Benitez is refusing even to look at the league table despite his Newcastle side climbing into fourth place with this victory, thanks to Jamaal Lascelles' second winner in a week.
The locals among a crowd of 51,795 left in jubilant mood after witnessing a third successive league win, and perhaps dreaming of mixing it with Europe's aristocrats again - 20 years after a famous 3-2 victory over Barcelona.
But manager Benitez was keeping his feet firmly on the ground as he celebrated a successful return to the dug-out after illness.
Asked how he felt when he looked at the table, he replied: "I haven't seen the table and I don't want to see the table, believe me. I said one game at a time and now it's just to be sure that the fans enjoy it.
"They can enjoy it, we have to enjoy it, but we have to be sure that the next training session, we start correcting things and improving things and doing things in the way we are doing things at the moment."
