Harper pulled off two superb late saves to deny Sheffield United's Darius Henderson and Keith Treacy last night as Newcastle returned to the top of the Championship.

Ryan Taylor scored the only goal of the game in the 53rd minute at Bramall Lane, his fierce shot cannoning in past a wrong-footed Ian Bennett off home captain Chris Morgan.

Harper was given a standing ovation at the final whistle by Newcastle's 2,850-strong travelling army for his heroics, though the 34-year-old was quick to pass on the praise to his team-mates.

"I think we deserved it for a collective team effort, and I have to mention Andy Carroll was outstanding at both ends of the pitch," Harper told the Gazette.

"He got some fantastic defensive headers in, and did a big job for us.

"At 1-0 down at home, they're going to launch bodies into the box. They got a couple of overloads, and I was happy to keep a couple of them out.

"I've been working on a few reaction things with (goalkeeping coach) Paul Barron, and I was happy with that tonight.

"I thought the one I saved with my legs was going to be my last one, but then the lad's headed it, and some days, they go in, and I was just happy to keep it out.

Newcastle go into Saturday's home game against Peterborough United two points clear at the top.

And Harper says Chris Hughton's side – who kept a string of clean sheets early in the campaign – was as pleased with the clean sheet as anything, believing defensive solidity is crucial to their chances of returning to the Premier League at the first attempt.

He went on: "It was a great result. We did what we were doing earlier in the season at Cardiff and Ipswich. We didn't do it at Forest and Scunthorpe because we gave sloppy goals away.

"We know that if we keep clean sheets, we can score goals, and so it proved.

"When you come to places like this it's important to get to half time still in the game, because if you give them a goal it can be tough.

"We did OK first half. We came in 0-0, and you've got to credit Chris Hughton for swapping Jonas Gutierrez and Ryan Taylor over.

"He put Jonas on the right and Ryan on the left, and Ryan cuts in and scores a winning goal.

"We know we can score goals. We've got a lot of firepower and proven goalscorers.

"We've seen Ryan Taylor do it enough times against us to know he's capable of doing what he did tonight.

"It was on target and took a little deflection, and fortunately gone inside the post."