It's taken 15 months but Given delighted after Cottage clean sheet

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The 31-year-old Irishman stood at the other end at Fulham on Saturday as midfielder Joey Barton converted a last-minute penalty to hand the Magpies a second successive Barclays Premier League victory.

However, the shut-out engineered by Given and his defenders was equally significant for a team who have made a habit of conceding soft goals this season.

It was Newcastle's first league clean sheet away from St James' Park in 13 months, and it was Steve Harper who was between the posts that day as Manchester City recorded a blank.

Given had to go back even further to his last unbeaten game, which came in a 2-0 victory at West Ham on September 17 2006, the day he was carried off in agony after suffering a perforated bowel in a collision with striker Marlon Harewood.

He said: "I didn't realise it had been that long. It has been frustrating, and it feels like that long since we have kept a clean sheet home or away.

"I was celebrating the clean sheet as much as the victory. I was going to 'do an Obafemi Martins' across the box, but I don't think I could have managed it.

"It was a good feeling to keep a clean sheet. It's not just me or the defenders, the whole team should get credit for it.

"We defend as a team and if we don't do that, we won't keep clean sheets."

Given is widely recognised as one of the Premier League's best keepers, while Harper too is highly-rated.

However, while they could not have been blamed for many of the goals which have been scored past them, and in particular the strikes past Harper by Derby's Kenny Miller and Portsmouth full-back Noe Pamarot, the former Blackburn man admits even he started to question himself.

Given said: "You do question yourself sometimes. You have got to really focus on what you do yourself and if each player does that, the chain of the team comes together.

"You have got to keep your head sometimes. There have been a lot of screamers go past us, to be honest, even when Steve played, like the goal at Derby and the Portsmouth goal when the full back scored a screamer.

"You work hard all week to keep clean sheets. It has been such a long time, and we are just happy with the result."

Newcastle now head into Saturday's home clash with bottom-of-the-table Derby having taken seven points from the last nine on offer to revive their season.

Manager Sam Allardyce hopes to have more of his injured troops back as he prepares for the departure of his four African Nations Cup players in January.

However, England striker Michael Owen is rated at only 50-50 as he continues his recovery from a thigh injury.

Allardyce said: "Michael is going to hopefully get back into some form of training this week. Derby might still be a bit soon, but we will keep our fingers crossed.

"Certainly we would hope Steven Taylor and possibly Abdoulaye Faye and Stephen Carr are back.

"We will try to get them into training as quickly as we can because the games are coming thick and fast.

"We have got four games in an 11-day period that we have got to cope with. That will be a big push for those games and with everybody fit, it will help us get more points on the board.

"We need to get those players back into the selection process and hopefully keep this run going on for a while."