A 2-1 home victory over 10-men Birmingham confirmed the promoted Magpies' presence in the top flight for the 2011-12 campaign, their one and only mission for the season, and left the visitors uncomfortably close to the drop zone. But having achieved that goal with two games to spare, Pardew turned immediately to the task of strengthening his squad armed with the £35million proceeds of striker Andy Carroll's January departure for Liverpool. The manager said: "Overall, I am absolutely delighted with 44 points because we are in the top 10 again with two games to go and we can dream of a top-10 finish. "I have got the owner investing at the training ground and I have got him investing in players and talking to agents and players, and I want to keep him there, so it was important to get a win. "Now we need those three or four players. Newcastle are renowned for getting them [the fans] off their seats, and we know that's probably what is missing and is going to take us beyond where we are at the moment. "That's the type of player we are looking at and hopefully we can bring one or two of those in to add to what we have got." Newcastle might have won more comfortably had it not been for the heroics of City keeper Ben Foster, who pulled off four superb saves to deny Peter Lovenkrands, substitute Nile Ranger and Kevin Nolan twice, although the game only exploded into life after Liam Ridgewell's 35th minute dismissal for deliberate handball. Shola Ameobi calmly converted the penalty for his ninth goal of the season and when Steven Taylor marked his return to the starting line-up with a towering 43rd minute header, there looked to be only one winner. However, Lee Bowyer's 45th minute strike gave the visitors hope, and they had a late chance to snatch a point when Sebastian Larsson stabbed wide after Tim Krul had fumbled Jean Beausejour's cross nine minutes from time. But that would have been tough on the Magpies, who dominated for long periods without ever really finding top gear, only to be repeatedly thwarted by the excellent Foster. Pardew said: "What you have to say about this team is that there are no real stars in it, but what they have done is they have had a collective team bond that when the really big game came around - and this today was a big game - we have won. "That's a good trait to have. The next trait for us is to have a winning mentality and take that away from home as well as at home." Opposite number Alex McLeish has no complaints about the penalty decision, but questioned the red card, and the Scot was convinced Taylor should not even have been on the pitch when he scored the decisive goal after catching striker Cameron Jerome with his elbow as the pair jumped for an early high ball. He said: "We had a double-whammy. Taylor probably should have been off the park leading with his elbow on Cameron Jerome's cheekbone earlier in the game. "We don't want to see that type of thing. Look at my nose and the stitches I have had over the years. That type of challenge is outlawed, but unfortunately the ref didn't see it." On the penalty decision, he added: "It hit his arm and he on was on the line. It wasn't going towards the goal, it was going to the side, but Nolan was probably in a good position to get on the end of it. "The referee saw the arm going towards the ball and that is a penalty, those are the rules."
