Juande Ramos spared a thought for the team conquered by his Tottenham Hotspur side in the third round of the Carling Cup last night. The Tottenham head coach expressed his delight at claiming his first domestic victory of the season, but said of Newcastle United: “It’s certainly not a nice situation to be in and I hope all the issues which are around them will be resolved soon and the team and the fans can have peace of mind.”

Ramos likened Newcastle’s position to that of his own club. “Our situation was very similar to Newcastle’s,” he said. “We have had a period without victories and the team was nervous. Things were not going very well, but this victory has given us some peace of mind. I believe we deserved to win tonight. In the first half, everything was equal and the two teams were playing at more or less the same level. But in the second half, we scored two goals and Michael Owen’s goal came at the very end.”

Chris Hughton, the Newcastle caretaker manager, vowed to keep on fighting after a fourth consecutive defeat, which came amid confusion over the future ownership of the club. “The situation is no different to what it was a couple of weeks ago in that the sooner something can be resolved, the better for everyone,” he said.

Hughton revealed that he had had no contact with the club’s board since taking over after Kevin Keegan’s resignation and added: “I am in a certain position and until that changes, I can only do the best job I can. It’s a big challenge, but it is very much a challenge I am up for. Parts of that challenge are very, very enjoyable, and that’s working with these players.

“You always have to look to the next result, and certainly I would be confident that we can get a result from Saturday’s game [against Blackburn Rovers at St James' Park].”

However, Hughton faces the task of reviving the spirits of players who have been through the mill in recent weeks. That Newcastle contributed to their own downfall last night will have done little to improve the mood on Tyneside and once Tottenham got their noses in front, there was only going to be one winner.

Hughton said: “We had two very good chances early in the second half and didn’t take them, and the two Spurs got, they were able to put away with good quality.”