And the striker admits he is ready for anything the Championship can throw at him after his encounter with Morgan and the highly-rated Matthew Kilgallon in Newcastle United's hard-fought 1-0 win.

Carroll also played a key role defensively, winning a series of headers as Chris Hughton's side fought tooth and nail to hold on to their advantage, which came courtesy of a deflected second-half goal from Ryan Taylor.

"He was trying to hoy me about," said Carroll. "I had to get stuck in, and do what I can do to defenders.

"I thought I did all right against them, and I created a few chances.

"It was a tough battle for me. Playing against Chris Morgan is hard for any player, and he ragged me all over the place at times.

"But I stuck at it, and by the end, as a team, we got our reward with Ryan's strike.

"They hadn't won for six games, and were desperate to beat us.

Newcastle would have been a lovely result for them, and we would be the best team to beat so that they could get back on track, but we had to stand strong.

"We got a lucky deflection, and it went in. It's about time we got some luck – we don't seem to have had any all season."

Newcastle had Steve Harper to thank at the death, the goalkeeper denying Darius Henderson and Keith Treacy with injury-time saves.

Carroll went on: "Steve has to be the hero. They should really have scored one of those chances from a striker's point of view.

"I don't know how Harps got to it, but it shows how good he is. It was just a great save (from Henderson).

"They had us penned in our own box for five minutes, and put the pressure on, and we showed quality. I was happy to get man of the match, but we came here for the win and that's what we've got."