By Nick Raynor
January 16 2007

Toon midfielder Kieron Dyer has congratulated team-mate Nicky Butt for his performance at the weekend against Spurs.

After spending 5 days in bed with flu, and losing 9 pounds, Nicky Butt still pulled on a Newcastle strip, and played from start to finish.

Not only that, the midfielder was involved in a scuffle at half-time with Chimbonda, but still scored the winning goal for Newcastle in a game that ended 3-2.

And team-mate Kieron Dyer has praised the former Manchester United man.

Dyer said:

"It was great Nicky got the winning goal because he got hit at half-time.

"He was fuming, but he ended up having the last word with the winner.

"I can remember him and Dennis Wise having a tussle when he was younger and he got sent off for retaliation. But I've not seen him as angry as that in years. It was disgraceful what happened but Nicky was very professional.

"He lost his temper but he quickly realised he needed to regain his composure. It's a very hard thing to do when something like that happens but he stayed on the pitch and he gave the perfect reply with the winning goal. I think we were all raging about it in the dressing room, we didn't need any extra motivation.

"I'm really pleased for Nicky Butt.

"His has been a similar situation to me because the fans were against him at the start of the season.

"I know how that feels, it's hard to deal with being booed by your own supporters but the only way you can win their support back is with your performances on the pitch.

"Nicky's a strong character and when the manager told him last season that when he came back he'd get a fair crack of the whip, he was determined to put things right at Newcastle.

"We spoke about it when he came back from Birmingham and I just said to him that Newcastle supporters are fair-minded. They forgave me for my mistake and you could see that Nicky was desperate to do well.

"He's been superb this season, probably our best midfielder and maybe even our best player. He had to bide his time because Scott Parker and Emre were the first-choice in that position at the start of the season but Nicky has been magnificent."

Dyer also praised another of his team-mates, Obafemi Martins who scored the equaliser.

Dyer added:

"Oba would confess that for 70-odd minutes he wasn't having the best of afternoons. But in a matter of seconds he had completely transformed the game. That's what you pay £10m for - match-winners don't come cheap.

"He was having a poor game but he scores a goal out of nothing with an unstoppable shot into the top corner and then slipped a great ball through to Nicky Butt to score the winner. It ended up being a great day for him."