Newcastle United boss Steve McClaren insists that his side need to sustain a high level of play for 90 minutes to lift them off the bottom of the Premier League table.

Newcastle United boss Steve McClaren has called on his players to produce a 90-minute performance to secure their first win of the Premier League season.

The Magpies are bottom of the table after picking up just three points from their opening eight matches of the campaign.

However, Newcastle have held 2-0 and 1-0 leads in their last two outings against Chelsea and Manchester City respectively, but have only managed to take one point from the contests.

McClaren has insisted that his side need to sustain the level of their displays until the end of the match to lift themselves off the foot of the table.

He told the club's official website: "Recently we've done well, but only for 45 minutes. Our first half performances against Chelsea and Manchester City were excellent.

"We were almost perfect in the first half against Manchester City - we could have been one or two goals up. Then three goals in four minutes just completely changed the game, we lost our discipline, our shape and we got punished. Chelsea was similar. I couldn't fault our first half performance but then we could have lost the game in the second - we need to perform for 90 minutes.

"If games were only 45 minutes I would be highly delighted but they're not, so I'm highly disappointed. If we perform for 90 minutes like we did in the first half against Chelsea and Manchester City, then we will win football matches. It's just about getting over that hump and once we do, we've got the talent and the ability in our squad to win games."

Newcastle face Norwich City at St James' Park on Sunday.