Peter Beardsley is aiming to take his side into the play-offs this season with United currently fourth in Premier League 2.
With two matches to play in the league against Fulham and Middlesbrough things are looking good.
He added: “That’s what we are trying to do. We are down to the last two games now and if we can get one win from the two I would guess that will put us into the play-offs.
“After the hard work we have put in this season they probably deserve that.”
Newcastle were held by a resilient West Ham side this week with the Londoners leaving Tyneside with a point despite having a one-man advantage for an hour following Arthur Masuaku’s dismissal.
Beardsley said: “We’ve got the cup game on Saturday now.
“Again it will be tough because West Ham will have a similar XI. Ashley Fletcher and Marcus Browne were a handful for us but whether they are back on Saturday we don’t know.
“When I look at cups we will be playing our best team. That’s always the case. Sometimes you still lose but it’s a chance to win something. It should be a good game but this time there has to be a result so at least the fans might see one goal.
“A clean sheet was positive on Monday night but I said to them at half-time that we had to try to win.
“And at the end of the day, my teams always try to win. We play a certain way and we attack. The biggest disappointment for me was that the shots on target that we did have were outside the box. I prefer to score from six yards or 10 yards.
“We didn’t really look like doing it.”