The Magpies kept the gap between themselves and their opponents at nine points with the 0-0 draw against West Brom, as well as edging ahead of Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League table.

And the defender certainly did his bit in a strong defensive display from Steve Bruce's side, even if they couldn't find a way past the Baggies, who have shown signs of improvement under Sam Allardyce in recent weeks.

"It was a difficult game," Dummett told nufc.co.uk after emerging from the away dressing room. "Unfortunately we couldn't win the game today; a point probably wasn't what we wanted but I think we have to look on the positive side of things and that one point could be crucial come the end of the season.

"Coming into the game, the intention was to get three points but the longer the game goes on, the last five minutes they were pushing and you've got to be careful that you don't get no points from the game.

"Today there was only one for us to take but like I said, you have to try to take positives from the game. We're at a difficult moment of the season and the last thing you can do is give up, and I think you could see that we didn't give up right to the end.

"They played a lot of long balls, the game was slowed down, the pitch was pretty long and dry right from the start and affected the way we want to play - and fed into the way they played.

"The last few weeks, we've been fluent in our play and played some good football but today was a bit of a different game, and we had to show determination not to lose.

"As a back four, we wanted a clean sheet and it gave us a good platform to try to win the game. It's a team game and we couldn't win the game but at the same time, we made sure we didn't concede to give ourselves the best chance."

For Dummett, it was only a third Premier League start of what has been an injury-affected ninth season with his boyhood club, but the left-back won the majority of his headers and tackles and earned praise from boss Bruce for a solid display.

And the 29-year-old said: "I think that's one of my strengths - defending - so I try to do that to help the team any way I can.

"I'm happy to be back and I feel really good, so hopefully over the next few weeks I can get even better the more games I play and we can get some good results and move ourselves up the league a bit.

"Instead of looking behind us, we want to look up.

"One point isn't really great at this time of the season - we need to try and pick up three and get a bit of momentum. But like I said, when it comes to the last five minutes, the most important thing is you don't come away with no points.

"And we had to fight right until the very end to make sure that we got that one."