In stark contrast our last muddled Monday performance at Derby, we returned from international commitments this time looking confident, focused and in the mood to end what had threatened to become a Setanta hoodoo (three winless Premiership games in front of their cameras).

As well as our own quality though, we were abetted in the quest for a fifth successive home win in all competitions by the sheer ineptness of Spurs for most of the evening - who were nervous in defence and brittle in midfield. 

It's been written before in these pages, but the boys from the Lane really don't seem to like it up the chilly end of the Great North Road.

Dark nights, dropping temperatures and hostile fans all play their part - it being surely no coincidence that two of their three Premiership wins here came when this fixture was in August.

Depending on ones' vintage, the appearance of certain clubs on Tyneside sets the pulses racing that little bit faster - in terms of the Londoners it's this mob that do it for us - never mind your Gooners, Hammers or Sheddites.

Whether it's some sort of repressed anger at the Waddle and Gascoigne departures, memories of bad days on and off the field in N17 or even just Chas and Dave, these buggers have got right up our nose since the days of Mark Falco and Mickey mackem Hazard.

It is therefore with special satisfaction that we can report that there was no doubt about the destination of these points from the moment Martins netted in those vital seconds before half time.

We'd come fairly close before then on a number of occasions, but without really giving stand-in 'keeper Cerny the opportunity to post a performance that ousted Robinson from his preferred status.

And if anything the two sides shared a common problem in being unable to put things together in the final third of the park - with our set pieces yet again not up to standard. 

Happily we put that right early in the second half with a fine corner execution and conversion, just reward after we'd come out of the dressing room with clear instructions to build instantly on that first goal.  

Martins and Owen as a pairing looked to work on opposite sides rather than truly in tandem - early days though for a duo that had only been seen previously last season against Reading and Blackburn. 

For those who doubt the effectiveness of a so-called little man/ little man combo, may we summon up the fleeting glimpse of thrilling football that Imre Varadi and Alan Brown provided here a quarter of century ago - before we failed to convert the latter's loan to a permanent move and reverted to brainless hoofery. 

Back to 2007 though and with Barton now on the scene, the opportunities for a genuine box to box midfielder to fill the void created by the runs of Owen and Oba are evident  - although the events of November 22nd in a Manchester court may yet derail that particular train of thought...

Had we played Viduka we'd have been more reliant on quality crossing, which would have called the effectiveness of Geremi in a wide role into question, but the ability to give Milner and Zog a half each was the sort of luxury we've too often been without.

In midfield meanwhile, Butt was snapping at heels and spurring on his colleagues into harrying the visitors into a series of unforced errors and losses of possession.

That gave Emre the chance to make some headway against a midfield where Zokora looked uninterested and Jenas continues his adulation of Dyer to such an extent that he now plays in the same fitful, skittish manner.

The former Magpie's goalscoring ratio in the league has actually improved since he moved south (13 from 63 starts compared to 9 from 86) but aside from that, there's little to suggest that Souness did us a disservice by allowing him to leave.

No longer the young pretender (25 in five months), a player who could and should be growing in stature instead continues to look for leadership on the field - it's too glib an answer to say that he's been denied an international career due to the claims on midfield shirts of his compatriots.  

And Berbatov's chief interest appeared to be in delaying his arrival on the field long enough not to have to do anything but sidle up to Obafemi Martins at the final whistle to claim his number nine shirt (pre-match paper stories told of an adolescent Toon-fixated Dimitar sleeping in his replica Shearer shirt).

For a while when Keane had pounced to halve the deficit we were on the back foot as Spurs sensed another one of their comebacks could be on the cards.

However some sensible substitutions either side of the crucial Milner goal calmed things down - even if Martins got himself in a bit of a tizzy after another one of his prodigious leaps saw him connect with a forward clearance without a colleague in attendance.

We pointed out recently on these pages that we are in line for our shortest competitive season in almost half a century - barring a significant FA Cup run.

On that basis we have an excellent opportunity to not only continue to make headway in the league to what has to be a default setting of European qualification in some manner, but also to get the infrastructure and squad quality and numbers up ahead of a more grueling campaign. 

The collective failures on the international circuit recently also mean that the bulk of our current squad will get their overseas cup-winning duties over with by February, rather than in post-season perambulations across the GAS territories. 

It might not make young Michael Owen very happy, but it could do wonders for us.....and by then Sam may also have worked out how he puts Smith back into this side effectively - he certainly wasn't missed tonight.

Never mind the last day bravado of August 31st - the golden date for us next season should be January 31st 2008, whether we're talking big bucks purchases or more low-key acquisitions.   

Prior planning - at St.James' Park? Never mind Local Hero, the team should be coming out to Revolution.

Biffa