Shay Given, the Newcastle United goalkeeper, admitted he felt like somersaulting across the pitch after keeping his first clean sheet away from home in 15 months on Saturday.

The 31-year-old Irishman picked up a welcome away win bonus as midfielder Joey Barton converted a last-minute penalty at Fulham to hand Newcastle a second successive Barclays Premier League victory.

However, the clean sheet kept by Given and his defenders was equally significant as the late strike for a team who have made a habit of conceding soft goals this season. Newcastle last shut out the opposition away from home in November 2006, and it was Steve Harper who was between the posts that day at Manchester City.

Given himself had to go back an additional two months for his last unbeaten away game, which came in a 2-0 victory at West Ham United, the day he was carried off in agony after suffering a perforated bowel in a collision with striker Marlon Harewood.

“I didn’t realise it had been that long,” he said. “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 admits he cannot explain why the team has continued to ship goals. “You do question yourself sometimes,” he added. “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.”