ALAN Pardew will name Tim Krul in Newcastle's starting line-up for tomorrow's game at Tottenham despite the goalkeeper's abject error in yesterday's 3-1 defeat to Manchester City.

Krul handed City their opening goal on a plate at St James' Park when his second-minute pass was intercepted by Carlos Tevez, who squared the ball for Gareth Barry to score.

The Dutchman replaced Steve Harper when the veteran injured his shoulder in September's win at Everton, and had impressed in his subsequent 15 appearances in the senior side.

Yesterday's mistake was his first aberration since a mishap in the Carling Cup defeat to Arsenal, and Harper's presence on the substitutes' bench might have persuaded Pardew to switch his goalkeepers around at White Hart Lane.

Instead, the Magpies manager displayed immediate support for Krul, insisting the 22-year-old would be keeping his place tomorrow despite his error contributing to Newcastle's eighth Premier |League defeat of the campaign.

“Tim quite understandably held his hands up in the dressing room and admitted he made a mistake,” said Pardew, who will be aware of Harper's senior status within the Magpies dressing room. “He needs to learn, but young goalkeepers are going to make mistakes here and there.

“He has to make sure it doesn't happen again, but I have no problem with Tim staying in goal. At the moment, Steve Harper is not quite ready because we just haven't had the training ground for him to be able to train and get to the level he would like to be at. So Tim will definitely be in goal at Spurs.”

Nevertheless, a repeat of yesterday's error could prove terminal to Krul's chances of retaining the goalkeeping jersey for the rest of the campaign.

Barry's opener ensured Newcastle were on the back foot from the off, and their prospects worsened when Tevez doubled City's lead within the opening five minutes of the game.

Andy Carroll's second-half header provided brief hope, but while Tevez's deflected strike was the final nail in the coffin, the damage was done early on.

“The first phase has cost us the game,” admitted Pardew. “As a squad, we've discussed some of the goals we've conceded this year. We've been putting the ball at risk, but we did that again and it cost us two goals.

“After that, I thought the performance was really strong. We showed tremendous character. We could have let it affect us and laid down and stepped off them, and Man City would have torn us apart.

“But we stood toe to toe with them for the rest of the game and, with a bit of luck here and there, I thought we could have got a positive result.”

Newcastle's attempts at a recovery were spearheaded by Carroll, who won a succession of aerial challenges and caused havoc within the City defence.

The England international has been all but unplayable in recent matches, and Pardew was impressed by the quality of service that was served up by the Magpies midfield.

“The real positive from the team point of view was the amount of good balls we got into the box,” said the Newcastle boss, who will not have Shola Ameobi available for tomorrow's trip to London. “It was probably even better than the Liverpool game from that point of view.

“There were some great deliveries and Joey's (Barton) set plays were spot on. Andy was a constant menace and, if you put the ball in the right areas, there are not many centre-halves who are going to deal with him.

“He proved that. In terms of his all-round game, I think he would admit there are areas for improvement. Outside of that though, he was fantastic and one of the big pluses for us.”