Newcastle boss Chris Hughton insists Newcastle's 1-1 draw with QPR on Wednesday night was a wake up call to the quality in the Championship. It took a 70th-minute equaliser from Aston Villa loanee Marlon Harewood to deny the visitors victory at St James' Park after they took the lead courtesy of Ben Watson's early strike. He said: "It's a big reminder for anybody of the quality in this league, the amount of games you need to play, and you are up against Championship-hardened teams who are used to playing the amount of games we are going to play.

"It's a big reminder, and it's something we keep stressing to the players. If I look at the games we have played so far this season, we have had to fight hard for everything we have got."