After the game, a bullish Chris Hughton said:

"It’s been a tough week and that was a big win. My position is completely different, but I’m delighted for this group of lads. It’s a very spirited group of players and staff that we’ve got. Whenever they have been questioned they have generally come up trumps.

"It’s difficult to single out anyone because it was a good team performance. West Ham is not an easy place to come and when the team sheets go up you see the quality that they have. I think that was the best performance of my time here.

"No disrespect to the Championship – where we had some tremendous performances – it is hard in the Premier League and it means that little bit more. It was definitely the best performance of the season so far. What we need to do now is address our home form. Our away form is good but we now need to apply that at home as well."

On Tiote:

"He was excellent. Cheick is a quiet lad but he’s settled in very well. He just goes about his business, there’s no thrills about his game but he goes about his business very well."

On Carroll:

"I had every confidence it wouldn’t affect Andy. That was his best game since the first game against Manchester United. He’s a handful. We need that from him as regularly as we can.

"He’s a tough individual. He knows that the best place for him is on the football pitch, training every day, being with a spirited group of players who are very fond of him and a staff who’ll support him. I thought he was excellent.

"It didn’t matter who scored really but I can see the headlines now! What we have in Kevin Nolan is someone who will always pop up with a goal, he’s been consistent in that. Andy Carroll was just in the right place – but I would have fancied anyone to score it with that kind of delivery."

On off-field rumours: 

"In all honesty, I don’t think about the speculation. The job that I have at Newcastle is big enough without worrying about that. It is demanding enough as a job to not think about what is being said outside of the football club. What I am keen to do is look at the positives. They are that in a season that we knew would be a tough season, we are one win away from being five or six positions better off than what we are.

"There are a group of teams that are in a similar position to us. We knew there would be tough periods this season and we have to get through them. If there are any criticisms I just look back at the periods where it’s been the opposite. If you’re a manager the key is not to get carried away when people are praising you, and not to let it affect you when you’re getting criticism. That is the best approach, I feel.

On rumours that Joe Kinnear could be returning to SJP:

"I might get him in to do the Press!"

Joey Barton commented:

"I was surprised to play there (in right midfield). I haven’t really got a trick and I’m not known for my electric pace, but  I said to the gaffer that I would play left-back or in goal as long as we win and its right for the team.

"It’s important for me to repay some debts to this football club with my performances on the pitch. That is what I want to do.

"This is a football team that thrives when our backs to the wall. Having a team of 11 players working hard for each other is a lot harder to beat than a team of fragmented egos that has gone before in my previous Newcastle times, and definitely in the side that was relegated.

"The pitch can be little bit of a sanctuary. Andy knows where we are, and I’ve been in his shoes. I will try and converse with him. My reputation hindered me for a long, long time and I will try and guide him to stop him from going down that path.

"We are human beings and Andy hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. The courts will take the necessary steps and it’s futile for me to talk about it to an extent.

"He’s a great kid and a great lad. He comes into training and works hard every day, and all the lads in the dressing room support him, as does the gaffer. If he loses that then he will be in trouble. But he showed us again today with his performance what it means to pull on the black-and-white jersey, and for me as long as he does that it’s nothing to do with me what he does outside the football pitch."

One by-product of Newcastle United's continual newsworthiness/infamy is the choice of headlines that it affords to those who doomed to chart the haphazard course that they follow.

Thus the weeks' events and this result gave rise to possibilities ranging from the fairly obvious ("All Fired Up", "Fire Works") to the willfully obscure ("That Petrol Emotion"). We refrained from rewriting that old piece of SJP graffiti about petrol and burning hammers though, in favour of "Flamin' Brilliant".

And in fairness, it was. 

A result that was desperately needed was achieved thanks to a performance which made a mockery of pre-match rumours regarding the imminent jettisoning of Chris Hughton. 

One way or another, "Dignity" - the team's own adopted theme song - had been in short supply recently where this club is concerned, something that caused almost as much heartache and despair round these parts as the inability to collect Premier League points in multiples of three.   

As well as the Hughton/Kinnear related speculation and activity on the betting exchanges (where Alan Pardew was backed heavily), thankfully inaccurate claims of an injury to Enrique added to an air of intrigue that would have bordered on the toxic, had we left the Boleyn Ground empty-handed.

Looking at the two teams themselves, there were plenty of potential sub-plots, with Manuel Da Costa's marking of Andy Carroll allowing the pair to compare notes on the respective merits of police station breakfasts in London and Northumberland, following recent temporary incarcerations.

And with memories of last week's old boy custard pie still fresh, the prospect of facing messrs Parker and Dyer also had some folks checking the scoring odds. In the event though the former was too busy fighting fires in midfield to test Tim Krul and the latter was rested - appearing only on the cover of the match programme and in a pre-match video aired on the big screen.
 

Carlton Cole's failure to find the net this season did seem to be a statistic waiting to be wiped out and sure enough, that soon proved to be the case. By full time though, the unseen hand that seems to guide us had conjured up a script with a happy ending.

After being the subject of numerous recent 999 calls, Newcastle's number 9 thankfully made the headlines for footballing reasons here, with a winning goal that kept his side from dropping into the bottom three and rocketed them to 9th instead.

Falling behind to an early goal woke the Magpies from their slumbers and after Carroll had nodded the ball down for his housemate Kevin Nolan to level before half time, the striker then conjured up a fine headed winner that boosted ex-Hammer and Stratford native Hughton on his return to the East End.

If the first half was broadly even, then second period saw West Ham fail to mount anything approaching a serious assault on Newcastle's goal - the departure of Frederic Piquionne through injury further reducing their attacking threat, after a hamstrung Matthew Upson had earlier limped off and correspondingly weakened their defence.

By contrast, Newcastle grew in confidence and were able to spend extended periods in the opposition half, as a nervous Hammers side frequently surrendered possession and midfielder Scott Parker operated in ever-decreasing circles - a sight familiar to those in the away section....

Thankfully the visitors were able to take advantage of the faltering home side and grab the winner. Avram Grant's main tactic had seemingly been to deny Jonas Gutierrez any space down the left, but his side were wide open on the opposite flank when Shola Ameobi pushed forward and Barton produced another wonderful centre.

He may have expressed surprise at his inclusion on the right, but his lack of pace is no more of a worry then that in the centre of the park. Only time will tell though whether better sides will push past him (or Guthrie) to zero in on Simpson, who was able to ease himself back in at right back but did a few things that would have provoked howls of anguish had James Perch perpetrated them....

The response from West Ham was weak-willed at best and with Newcastle dominating proceedings they could have scored again - Carroll, Enrique, Barton and Ameobi all trying their luck from outside the box. At the other end though, Krul had one of the quietest games of his senior team career. 

For Hughton it was a vindication of playing a more attacking lineup, starting with Ameobi and Carroll up front for the first time in the Premier League and relocating Nolan in central midfield.

After making much of a Fortress St.James' strategy when previewing this season, his side look more composed and happier on their travels than on home soil - presumably as there's less pressure on them to create and more space for them to exploit.

On the back of taking one home point out of nine, we'd written about United having to go out and pick up points elsewhere to atone for their SJP shortcomings and like Everton, this was a prime example of that - and another stoic display that saw the side come back from going a goal down for the fourth time on the road this season.

Last word to the scorers and after the week they've had, one might have expected them to enjoy a quiet Sunday in Darras Hall at Chez Nolan - Sting on the stereo and The Police in the driveway....

Instead though, Nolan and Carroll were in Glasgow to watch Celtic v Rangers, presumably on the grounds that an Old Firm encounter is slightly less "incendiary" than the Magpie madhouse....

Biffa