 NEWCASTLE United battled the odds to return to the top of the Championship last night but Chris Hughton was left wishing his players could make life easier for themselves. Kevin Nolan’s second-half goal was all that separated United from Preston North End at Deepdale last night. The win was achieved despite the withdrawal of the injured Ryan Taylor in the warm-up and Hughton revealed Andy Carroll had played through an illness. “We lost Ryan Taylor in the warm-up (to a calf injury) and Andy Carroll was ill for most of the day,” the manager revealed. “He probably had no right to play but he’s a tough lad and he wanted to play. We probably got more out of him than we expected. “We also lost Danny Simpson, so amongst all of that to keep a clean sheet and get a win, whether we deserved it or not was pleasing. Probably on the balance of play it deserved to be a draw.” The win was Newcastle’s seventh 1-0 success of a season in which they have already kept nine clean sheets. Former defender Hughton was pleased with that, though admitted he wants more. “I think they’ll feel hard done by in what was a game of not many chances,” he said. “Probably if the goal had been earlier it might have opened up a bit. I was pleased with a clean sheet and when you keep one there’s no one better than Kevin Nolan to nick you a goal. “It always looked like one goal would win it. So far this season we’ve been determined enough to keep clean sheets and we’ve quality at the other end. We’d like to start making some games a little bit more comfortable for ourselves with early goals but Preston are a tough side. “I would like to see us create and convert more chances but our job is to try and get the balance right. We got it right in the last home game (against Peterborough). We were a bit sluggish at times and our passing wasn’t as we’d have liked but we must have done something right.” Hughton also paid tribute to the goalscorer, who found the net for the ninth time this term. “Kevin enjoys this type of challenge and has a clamness and composure to score goals,” he said. “He scored one in the last minute a few days ago.” | 
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