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Barely 24 hours after they had been told about the stroke that had left 42-year-old youth team coach Gary Parkinson fighting for his life, Holloway's men battled their way to a gritty 2-0 victory at St James' Park on Saturday. Their manager, not a man usually lost for words, was left struggling for new superlatives after the game. Asked if he was delighted, Holloway said: "That's an understatement, my friend. "I am more than delighted with that. If there was a better word than delighted, I would like to think about it now and say it. "I might make my own up - phantasmagorical, whatever. "If you think about the end of last season, the trouncing we got here, if you look at how short a period of time it is, if you look at the quality they have got, I am absolutely delighted. "My boys get stronger and better all the time and I have got to be careful that I don't burst with pride about them because we had the worst day ever yesterday in my football management. "One of my staff is ill - I had to tell the young lads, cancel their game, I had to tell our boys and I couldn't be more proud of a group who even paid tribute to Parky on their shirts today. "If I had known that, I would have gone mad because I wouldn't have pre-empted scoring a goal here, but I am very glad that we stick together." Keeper Matt Gilks was the hero as he produced a string of superb saves to deny Newcastle an equaliser after Charlie Adam had given the visitors a 45th-minute lead from the penalty spot. Adam, who dedicated his strike to Parkinson by producing a t-shirt bearing the message '4 Parky', sent keeper Steve Harper the wrong way from the spot after Luke Varney had been tripped by Alan Smith. It was little more than the Tangerines deserved after an even first half, although Newcastle defender Mike Williamson had earlier hit the post with a header and Gilks had won a one-on-one showdown with Kevin Nolan. The Magpies largely dominated after the break, but Joey Barton, substitute Peter Lovenkrands and Andy Carroll were all denied by Gilks, the last of them two minutes from time as the visitors guarded their lead. But the pressure was released in the closing seconds when, with Newcastle pouring forward once again, Adam picked out DJ Campbell and he fired across Harper and into the bottom corner to seal a famous victory. Blackpool headed home hoping to hear better news of Parkinson on their return, but with their manager having had football put into perspective once again. He said: "We will find out a bit more in the next few days, but they are a very important few days and all our love is with him. "I can't talk about it at the moment, but it is very serious. We believe in him and his family. "All our love is with him and we believe he will come through it." For Newcastle boss Chris Hughton, whose side beat Aston Villa 6-0 in their last home game, a first defeat in 27 games at St James' and the first since he became permanent manager proved a sobering experience. He said: "Frustrating, very frustrating. We finished a game in perhaps not one of our better performances and created equally as many chances as we did against Aston Villa. "But of course, we weren't able to put them away, and we came up against a very inspired goalkeeper today. "It's a reminder of this division. We were on the back of our last home win and created the same amount of chances. "But we had a very good day in front of goal that day. Today, we didn't and albeit that Blackpool are a team who came up with us, they have shown their quality."
