The Magpies took the lead when Andy Carroll scored in the first half, but Salomon Kalou made the final score 1-1 at St James’ Park.
“You are fearful every time they attack because of what they have got, they had got the ascendancy, and we conceded a poor goal,” Hughton explained to Sky Sports.
“But credit to every one of our players, we dug in and we got to a stage where if you can get comfortable against a side like that, then we ended up being a touch comfortable.”
He added: “You get to that stage of the game where the joy of getting something from the game is a little bit more than the possibility of losing the game.
“And as I said they have got so much quality, it is a little bit of every time they attack there is that fear.
“But we dug in and I don’t think anyone seeing that game today can deny we deserved something from it.”
