ALAN PARDEW claims his Newcastle United players paid too much attention to the urgings of the St James’ Park crowd as they conceded a stoppage-time goal to draw 3-3 with Crystal Palace.

The Magpies looked to be heading for their first Premier League win of the season when Mike Williamson scored with two minutes remaining at St James’ Park, and Pardew wishes his players had effectively shut up shop after claiming a 3-2 lead.

Instead, he feels they were swayed by the mood in the stands, with their desire to push forward contributing to the stoppage-time equaliser from Wilfried Zaha that leaves them with two points from their first three league games.

“Our fans went crazy when we scored and we got dragged along a little bit,” said Pardew, “Our fans went crazy when the third went in and we got caught up in it. We should have closed the game out.

“Of course we wanted a fourth goal, but at that time in the game I’d prefer to have ten men behind the ball and make sure we didn’t give free-kicks away. We needed to do the dirty, horrible things Palace did all day.”

Newcastle conceded a goal in the opening three minutes of both halves, with the movement of Palace’s attacking players often proving difficult for them to negate.

Nevertheless, Pardew believes that the London club’s gamesmanship was a key factor in the final result, and has questioned the decision to add on seven extra minutes at the end of the game.

“They wasted time at goal kicks and free-kicks from the first whistle,” he said. “Time and time again, they took ages on everything, then they are 3-2 down and he (referee Mike Jones) gives them seven minutes of injury time.

“It didn’t sit right with me, but I suppose it’s the letter of the law. Anyway, I’m not going to bleat on about that too much, we should have won and didn’t.”