Marc Steutel conceded the men in black must do better before praising the will to win that’s underpinned a thrilling start to his third season at the helm.

Injury-hit Newcastle Eagles defied the odds and stayed strong down the stretch to stay undefeated in Europe this season.

And Steutel couldn’t mask his admiration for a battling group of homecourt warriors as dangerous Dutch rivals Donar Groningen were sentenced to a 67-63 defeat.

“Winning ugly is probably the way to describe how we came away with that victory and I’m proud of the fight within the group,” said Newcastle’s playcaller as the Eagles moved to 3-0 in the European North Basketball League (ENBL).

“Honestly, we’ve had our backs against the walls a few times this season and we keep finding a way to grind a result out.

“We knew this period was going to be really difficult for us physically and I’m proud of the toughness of the guys mentally too.

“To make some of the plays that we made at the right time was fantastic to see but we have to find a way to improve.

“When we face the unique challenges brought on by scheduling and fatigue we have to find a way of doing a better job.”

Newcastle got off to a flier against a Donar side led by destructive centre James Karnik.

The Eagles opened up a commanding eight-point first quarter lead on the back of some committed defence and typically efficient shooting.

But Karnik — who added an eye-watering 23 rebounds to his 13 points — ensured the visitors were always in a position to mount an inevitable fightback.

And sure enough Groningen ate away at Newcastle’s advantage before taking a four-point lead into the final two minutes.

“Donar did a good job of changing the tempo and fair play to them in the second half, they stifled us,” admitted Steutel. “But I thought we stifled ourselves a little bit.

“It was a great result but the guys came out of it frustrated because that wasn’t an Eagles performance.

“Fifteen turnovers in a game like that just isn’t us.

“The ball was sticking and I felt we were lethargic at times so we needed to be better in that respect.

“But when a team gets that many offensive rebounds — and one player comes away with 13 offensive boards — they usually win.

“So I’m happy that we were able to tough it out.”

Without injured bigs Will Neighbour and Darius Defoe, the hosts were always going to find Karnik and partner in crime Stijn Hintzbergen hard to handle.

But the undersized De’Sean Allen-Aikens and Seneca Knight did their best to make life difficult for Groningen’s towering centres.

And forward Malcolm Delpeche came up with some big possessions when it mattered on what was a torrid night for Newcastle under the glass.

Donar won the battle of the boards 50-35 but the Eagles outscored their opponents in the paint and drained 30 points off the bench.

Not for the first time this season Allen-Eikens dug out key buckets down the stretch and defended like his life depended upon it.

One of just three Newcastle players in double figures, the red hot rookie packed the stat sheet with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

And after insisting he can only get better in the wake of last Friday’s loss against Manchester, the maverick US forward has backed that up with brilliant displays against Gladiators and Groningen.

It was Allen-Eikens’ steal and coast-to-coast score that edged the Eagles 65-63 up with 52 seconds on the clock.

And when all-action Jordan Spencer somehow came down with the ball under the Newcastle glass with a second remaining it was all over on another famous night at the Vertu Motors Arena.