ANDY CARROLL today dedicated his first goal of the season to his newborn daughter – but admits that was as good as the night got in Blackpool. Carroll became a father on Tuesday morning after making a quicker than anticipated recovery from a groin injury to cap off a whirlwind week. However, Carroll was far from pleased with the outcome of United’s first defeat of the season as he headed back to Tyneside to continue to mull over a name for his offspring. He told the Chronicle: “I’m a dad now – my partner had a baby girl on Tuesday morning, and I’m dedicating the goal to her. That was for her, really. “It was my first goal of the season, and I’m happy with the goal, and to get off the mark, but I’m not so happy about the result. “I haven’t really trained – I only had two sessions – but getting back into the team is what I’ve been wanting. “I was surprised to start the game and play the full 90 minutes, but I’m happy to be back. I’m absolutely knackered, though!” Carroll will now go into Saturday’s home game with Plymouth Argyle with a full game under his belt. However, he says that suffering defeat for the first time since last May when Aston Villa sent United down was tough to take. He said: “We obviously were looking for a win, but we didn’t start the best. “We started off slowly, but we got ahead first. “I got my goal – he (Danny Guthrie) put it straight on my head – to be fair I couldn’t really miss. “I just had to be at the right place at the right time to nod it in. “And it seemed like half-time was coming with us ahead, but they scored just before the break. “We came out in the second half better than we had in the first, but we couldn’t score, and they got another goal. “We had two chances, but for some reason it wasn’t going in. “We tried to find a way back into it by putting the pressure on, but Blackpool defended well.” However, Carroll is refusing to get too despondent about the result and feels that the wrongs can be put right against Plymouth on Saturday. He said: “We just need to work on this sort of stuff in training.” Carroll’s comeback eased the striking crisis at Newcastle, with Chris Hughton also having the Geordie forward Nile Ranger and Peter Lovenkrands available to take on the Pilgrims. And midfield battler Alan Smith will also be free from the shackles of suspension for Saturday’s clash. | 
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