Newcastle director of rugby John Fletcher lavished praise on match-winner Jonny Wilkinson whose last-gasp penalty gave the Falcons a crucial Guinness Premiership victory over Saracens at Kingston Park.

Wilkinson's relatively straightforward winning kick went in off the left upright but capped off an impressive all-round display which included 11 points from the England number 10 following international team-mate Toby Flood's fourth try in as many games.

Newcastle led 10-3 at the break but Saracens fought back through a Ben Skirving score as the lead changed hands three times in the second period before Wilkinson swung it back the Falcons' way.

"We have absolute confidence over Jonny in those situations because that's what he does best," said Fletcher who hit out at criticism of Wilkinson's performances for England in the RBS 6 Nations.

"He's such a good person. He's a great ambassador for sport. He's a great player and obviously there's some other good players out there.

"Some of the things that have been written about him is nonsense to be honest."

Fletcher allayed fears over combative England centre Jamie Noon who withdrew from Newcastle's starting line-up with a tight hamstring.

He fully expects Noon to be available for England against France next weekend.

"He'll be fine. He was very close (to playing). He just had tightness in his hamstring and hadn't trained all week," he added.

"If this had been the last game of the season or a cup final he would have been absolutely fine."

Fletcher was satisfied with his side's performance which sees them remain ninth in the table but almost certainly safe from relegation.

"I thought our first-half performance was good. I thought we deserved another try. For whatever reason we just didn't play. We had lots of unforced errors.

"We gave them a lot of opportunities and we gave them a lot of territory and in the end we're very pleased to win the game.

"We are delighted to win because that was a game that could have got away from us.

"Overall I thought we were the better side and that we deserved to win."

Saracens Director of Rugby Alan Gaffney expressed his frustration at seeing victory snatched away from his side at the death.

The defeat is a missed opportunity for Sarries who stay fourth after the teams above them all lost this weekend.

"When you're away from home it would have been a plus for us. It's a very tight competition now," he said.

"A loss like this bitterly hurts. We had the opportunity to play the game out but we didn't do it."

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