ANDY Griffin last night paid tribute to Newcastle United's Nolberto Solano for his hard-working displays.

Griffin and Solano have been in tandem down the right flank for the Magpies for most of the season.

And the young defender believes his own success has largely been down to the skilful Peruvian winger.

Solano has always been known for his dangerous crosses, but Griffin revealed there is more to his play than meets the eye.

"He defends well for us and things are going well for us both down the right," said the 23-year-old.

"When we push forward we are getting a great understanding and he is getting very clever with the ball.

"Whenever I go forward he fills in for me and that's good to know.

"If we continue in the same form for the rest of the season it is a good platform, not only for us two, but for the whole team."

Goal-hero Griffin scored a stunning equaliser against Charlton on Saturday - his second goal in four days after his strike against Juventus last Wednesday.

But where the Champions League effort should have been saved by Gianluigi Buffon, there was no stopping Griffin's great 18-yard drive into the top corner against the Addicks.

And the combative right-back admits he will struggle to hit that type of goal again, though he is going to work on his goal celebrations just in case.

"I don't think I have hit a ball as sweetly as the that,"he said.

"It's one of those shots that you practice in training all of the time and 99 times out of 100 it will fly past the post or fly over. I was gobsmacked when it flew in.

"Goal celebrations are not something I rehearse. Alan Shearer asked me why I was just standing there - I said it was because it's not meant to happen.

"It's something I can work on over the weekend and you never know I might get a chance to celebrate against Kiev!"

Dynamo Kiev travel to St James' Park tomorrow night, in a match that Newcastle must win if they are to stand a chance of progressing to the second stage of European football's premier competition.

If they do it is likely four English teams - Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool as well - will qualify for the next stage of the Champions' League for the first time.

And Griffin is confident, he said: "There's no reason why we can't beat Kiev at home. If we get three points on Tuesday, progress is in our own hands.

"We have given ourselves a great chance by beating Juventus and if we can beat Kiev we can go into the Feyenoord match full of confidence."

Read more about Newcastle United FC here.