Rafa Benitez reacts to 'one small step' taken by his Newcastle players

A second-half strike from Salomon Rondon gave Benitez's side a 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town at the John Smith's Stadium this afternoon.

The result saw Newcastle move up to 14th place in the Premier League table.

United manager Benitez said: “I'm really pleased with three points

"In this case, we knew we were playing against a team that would be on front foot, pushing. They would be high and leave so much space, and we needed to exploit that

"At home, normally teams are well organised waiting for your mistakes, and it can be more difficult

"Today, they were pushing, but you have to praise our players, defending really really well. In the second half, we had more control and we did well on the counter-attack once and also the second time, which I think was onside.

"The idea was to exploit the space we had behind, try to exploit the space behind and do well on counter attack.

"We had to defend very well against physically strong side."

Asked about the importance of the win, Benitez said: “It's quite important for us. They're good team who work really hard. We have to do the same.

"To get three points here and keep them far away, we have taken a step forward, but it's just one small step."