ADAM Smith dedicated his goal against Newcastle United to best friend Ryan Mason before admitting the midfielder’s enforced retirement had changed his own outlook on life.

Former Hull City star Mason suffered a fractured skull in an aerial duel with Chelsea’s Gary Cahill in January last year and, on medical advice, ended his comeback bid 12 days ago.

Smith, who joined Tottenham at the age of seven, forged a close bond with Mason as they came through the youth ranks at the north London club.

And having come off the bench to lash home in Cherries’ 2-2 draw with Newcastle, Smith celebrated by holding up eight fingers, a reference to his friend’s old squad number at Spurs.

The 26-year-old defender, who repeated the gesture after the final whistle, said: “I’d like to dedicate that goal to my best friend Ryan Mason.

“We came through the ranks together and I was gutted to see he had to retire.

“It definitely puts things in perspective for me. I used to get too involved with football and now I don’t. There are more important things in life.

“Football isn’t everything. Family and being healthy are much more important. Everyone gets caught up in football and thinks it’s the world and it’s not.

“I’ve seen what he’s gone through and how it can be taken away from you so quickly, and I’ve seen what his family and girlfriend have gone through.

“As soon as he retired, I had it in my mind that the next goal I scored would be for him.”

Smith replaced Charlie Daniels for the second half at Vitality Stadium and started Cherries’ comeback with 10 minutes left when his powerful strike capped a neat team move.

Dan Gosling’s last-gasp effort then saw Cherries grab a precious point.

“I’m not going to lie, I was frustrated I didn’t start,” said Smith.

“I respect the gaffer’s selection but no player wants to be on the bench. I was disappointed and felt I had to prove a point.

“I did it for myself and the lads as well. I wanted us to get back into the game and the most important thing was we didn’t lose."

Striker Dwight Gayle’s first-half double had appeared to put Newcastle on course for victory.

But after Ayoze Perez and Jonjo Shelvey spurned glorious chances to make it 3-0, Smith and Gosling rescued the hosts in the closing stages.

Discussing the overall performance, Smith said: “It was a disappointing first half and they could have finished it through Jonjo near the end but you have to give it to us, we always show great character.

“It’s not easy to come back from two goals down against a Premier League side.

“We always have the belief we can come back from a losing position. But it’s a bit frustrating that we got ourselves in that position in the first place, so we need to work on that.”