Jones believes Newcastle are moving in right direction

Newcastle Red Bulls head coach Stephen Jones believes his side is moving in the "right direction" after scoring four tries in the narrow defeat by Prem leaders Northampton Saints.

Jones was left "wonderfully proud" following Red Bulls' narrow 28-27 defeat to Saints in which wing Harrison Obatoyinbo stood out for an electric display with ball in hand - topping the division's charts for metres made (170) and line breaks (six) across the weekend's action.

Before his first home game in charge against Exeter Chiefs on Friday (19:45 GMT), Jones was cautiously optimistic about the current plight of his side despite being rooted to the bottom of the Prem standings.

"There's lots of areas that we're pushing forward, we're going in the right direction, but we're conscious that we have to keep working hard to upskill ourselves," he told BBC Sport.

"The most important thing for us is that we improve and push our standards forward and that's what we're concentrating on."

Newcastle have won just once in 11 Prem matches this season and Jones has said in the past that he will not be the club's head coach beyond the end of this season.

However, he has been part of the club's recruitment policy - which has brought in new additions Samson Adejimi and Ben Healy this week - and the former Wales fly-half has already put his own stamp on the first-team.

"What's important is we have an attacking philosophy, an attacking style, but we have to evolve that," he added.

"There will be evolution, we will continually challenge ourselves to grow our game but we have a clear vision of how we want to play the game.

"First of all, you have to work hard on the pitch and that is the bottom line. If you work hard, and have clarity in your game, then people can move to correct positions quickly, and also you have accountability then.

"Ultimately, it comes down to the playing group – and their ability to transfer their individual skills into the system.

"The playing group I'm working with are very, very good. They're happy to push and drive forward standards."

Newcastle could welcome back wing Christian Wade for their encounter against fourth-placed Exeter at Kingston Park.

The 34-year-old is only eight tries away from equalling Chris Ashton's all-time record of 101 in the Prem but has not appeared for the club since 24 January.

"Wadey's training well which is nice," Jones said. "He has a fantastic record. He knows his way to the finish line, that's for sure.

"His ability to beat a defender is first-class and we love that in him.

"The medical team have been fantastic working hard with our group to make sure us coaches have as much players available as we can.

"We have a current playing group here who we have a duty to as a management group to continually educate, improve, and ultimately win games - that's why we're here.

"Everybody is aligned with that and everybody in the building is committed to the here and now, and that is the most important thing."