Bouzanis, who was a regular for City in the 2016/17 season, earned his first start of the campaign after Eugene Galekovic was injured in the warm-up.

"The gaffer went with Eugene for the start of the season," Bouzanis told Fox Sports.

"We've got a very good goalkeeping unit here. Everyone pushes each other on and even Eugene before the game came on and wished me the best and I'd do the same for him throughout the season.

"It's a close-knit group and the players are very close, so that's what this is special about."

The result keeps City within touching distance of second-placed Newcastle, closing the gap to two points.

"We knew if we lost this game there'd be a bit of a point difference," Bouzanis said.

"But we swept it under the carpet, didn't think about it and concentrated on getting the three points.

"Every single one of those players put in a shift and it's a credit to every single one of them."

The result ends City's poor run, having failed to win in their past four matches, collecting only one point.

"It's a great bunch of lads this year," Bouzanis said.

"We've been on a not so good run. We've come to Newcastle who are a very good side, we're very well drilled, credit to the lads, we stuck in there we went 1-0 down and we worked.

"It probably was ugly but we'll take it. It's a 2-1 win and we're very happy."