Norwich boss Glenn Roeder has bolstered City's Championship survival push with the loan capture of combative Newcastle midfielder Matthew Pattison.

Norwich boss Glenn Roeder yesterday bolstered City's Championship survival push with the loan capture of combative Newcastle midfielder Matthew Pattison.

The 21-year-old South African will move to Carrow Road on an initial short term deal until January 1 and is available for City's crunch Championship home fixture against Coventry in eight days time.

Pattison had been frozen out of Sam Allardyce's Premiership first team plans this season after making his St James' Park breakthrough under Roeder.

The Johannesburg-born player could slip even further down the pecking order in the New Year with Magpies' chief Allardyce linked with a £7m January raid for Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin.

“When I was the academy manager at Newcastle, I was told that Matty Pattison would be our best player to come through into the first team,” said Roeder. “When I saw him play I was not disappointed. When I became the manager I used him both as a substitute and starting a number of games. He's a tough lad, the right sort for where we are now - he does not know what it is to lose.”

Pattison - handed the number 24 shirt - becomes Roeder's second Premiership loan recruit after Birmingham centre back Martin Taylor.

The South African's current Newcastle contract runs out next summer but Roeder's chances of extending Pattison's stay beyond his initial spell could hinge on the African Nations Cup.

Pattison is an outside bet to be drafted into Carlos Alberto's squad for the five-week tournament in Ghana that begins on January 20.

The Newcastle youth product has already shown his battling qualities to overcome a serious knee cruciate ligament injury that wrecked his 2004/05 campaign.

He returned in May 2005 but was sidelined for a further six months after injuring the same knee. Roeder handed Pattison his full debut within a month of taking over the St James' Park hotseat in February 2006 - a late substitute cameo in Newcastle's 2-0 Premiership win over Everton.

Pattison has since made only 14 further appearances for the Magpies - his last outing on the final day of last season at Watford.

Meanwhile, Hartlepool youth team coach Paul Stephenson has met Roeder for further talks on joining his backroom team alongside Lee Clark.

Pools' boss Danny Wilson confirmed the League One club had given Norwich permission to approach Stephenson - who played under Roeder at Gillingham in the early 1990s.

“We have just said that he can have the opportunity to speak to them,” said Wilson. “So he can see what they have to say and he can make a decision after that.”

Roeder targeted the former Newcastle trainee after reportedly missing out on Toon assistant academy director Adam Sadler.

Allardyce moved swiftly to promote the 27-year-old to reserve team manager following Clark's exit.

“It's a huge honour and I'm immensely proud,” he said. “I'm a Newcastle fan and a local lad and I thank Sam Allardyce for giving me the chance and showing faith in me. I was at Newcastle as a young player from 10 to 16 and I've been at the club as a coach for seven years now. I know all of the lads and I can't wait to get started.”