Steve Bruce says that seeing Joelinton net his first Premier League goal at St James' Park would have been the icing on the cake against Chelsea.
But he insists he can't ask for more from the Brazilian after a hard working display on Saturday night.
It was Joelinton's persistence that led to the corner which eventually resulted in Isaac Hayden's winning striker, but the £40million man had also hit the crossbar in the first half.
Bruce said: "It would have been great if big Joe had scored from that one.
"I thought Joe was manful today.
"You could see the difference a goal made and it would have been great if he'd got another one.
"He really fed off scraps and big long balls to him, but overall his performance, he never gave up.
"We had the two big chances, but they had a couple as well, of course."
Yet Bruce felt his side finally got the rub of the green after some difficult weeks and bad luck with injuries.
He reflected: "You know it's your little bit of luck when you put Isaac up from wing-back into the penalty area and he scores a goal, so you accept it and you take it.
"Smash and grab – is that the right headline?
"The one thing that we've proven, especially here against the big teams, is that we're difficult to beat and difficult to play against.
"Yes, it's not great to watch, but when I see them with the effort and the endeavour and the way they stuck to the game-plan.
"To be fair, we've got to look after the ball better, we turned over the ball far too often today, which was painful.
"But their resilience and their attitude was there for everybody to see.
"They stuck at it and defended with their lives."
