Newcastle United boss John Carver was pleased with his side's defensive efforts in the Tyne-Wear derby on Sunday.

The Toon were beaten 1-0 by Sunderland at the Stadium of Light after a brilliant volley from Jermain Defoe but it was not the fault of the back four - consisting of Ryan Taylor, Daryl Janmaat, Mike Williamson and Jack Colback - or goalkeeper Tim Krul.

"Without going into it too much what I will say is the back four is a makeshift back four and I thought they stuck at their jobs ever so well, along with the goalkeeper," said Carver on Sky Sports.

"They deserve a bit of credit but the other units in the team, I'm not happy with."

The defeat saw Newcastle drop to 13th on the Premier League table having lost their past four matches and winning just once in their last eight.