The song remains the same for so-sick Steve, once again tragically denied the opportunity to serenade his increasingly dissenting flock with the platters that matter to him.         

And adding insult to injury, the winner came from a player he managed when at Wigan, discarded in haste for Magpie malcontent Charles N'Zogbia. Knowing his onions though (fried, on cheeseburgers), Brucey commented back in 2009 that Ryan Taylor was "a superb striker of the ball". He still is, it's just the running around stuff in between that he doesn't always prosper at....

For Alan Pardew though, the satisfaction of achieving what every man, woman and child with a NE postcode he encountered last week had demanded of him was evident. Under pressure from sceptical punters for his parsimonious transfer dealings, the importance of this success was probably on a par with the home victory over Liverpool that began his SJP reign last December.  

The Merseyside influence on this match loomed large, with Kevin Nolan's four derby goals last season removed from the equation. Genuine concerns also remained over Joey Barton's ability to keep himself on the straight and narrow in the face of the expected extreme provocation.

In the event though it was Ryan Taylor who conjured up a belated birthday present for himself, having kept his place in the starting XI due to the absence of a bona fide left back. Had we signed one, would we have actually had someone on the field who could have cracked home the free kick? No matter, he's assured of his place in folklore, along with the likes of Dabizas and the O'Briens.

Clearly fired up for the occasion but looking both disjointed and hesitant, Steve Bruce's reshaped side were on trial despite their opening day point at Anfield and the noise levels from home areas reflected that uncertainty. An early goal would doubtless have done wonders for mackem fans, players and manager but it never really looked likely, Tim Krul making a couple of stops that were noteworthy without being spectacular.

Our main outlet was Shola Ameobi, given the task of chasing down occasional forward punts and trying to wriggle away from one, two or often three defenders. That changed on the quarter hour though when Shola got ahead of Mignolet to head Cabaye's corner goalward and Barton's close -range nod on looked like a certain goal - only for Sebastian Larsson to swipe it clear with his arm.

A penalty award for United and a red-card for the former Birmingham City midfielder looked like the only possible outcome, but Howard Webb refrained from making a decision and consulted with his linesman, who also claimed to have seen nothing. TV pictures later showed that Steven Taylor was blocking the referee's view, but the flagwaver on the far side looked to have a perfect angle.

Halftime was reached with some robust tackling from both sides and Yohan Cabaye finding the target with a powerful effort that was saved. Ameobi placed his header wide of the goal from an offside position, while Gyan grazed the crossbar when he should really have netted. Talk at the break revolved around a second successive 0-0.

Cheick Tiote had a wayward game in midfield and had black-and-white hearts in mouths with what looked like a trip on Kieran Richardson but the mackem man got straight up without complaint and Webb waved away appeals from his team mates - only he will know whether that was a decision made in isolation or some "evening out" following the first half non-decision.

Tempers spilled over at times and there were players from both sides lucky to stay on the pitch but Lee Cattermole and Phil Bardsley could have ended up in jail with some of their assaults, the referee finally losing patience with the latter in the dying minutes and issuing a second yellow.

In truth, it should have been a straight red and with Fabricio Coloccini's foot planted firmly when Bardsley made contact, it's a miracle Colo's leg remained in one piece - handing us a small piece of good fortune that we often seem to lack, given that he's started the season in great form (with fellow countryman Jonas also catching the eye here today in the second half). 

Dan Gosling should then have wrapped up the points after just having the 'keeper to beat from close range, but was denied. As the jubilant away fans chanted after the 95th minute final whistle, "We are top of the league" - by virtue of kicking off so early. By Monday night we were seventh.

Alan Pardew is entitled to milk the moment, if for no other reason than it gives him something positive to enthuse about for a change, rather than shoulder the burden of publicly defending decisions that he doesn't always agree with - or even play a significant part in (allegedly).

There's a slight danger though that the preceived importance of the two derby games is over -emphasised and things are over-sold to mythical status, much like the media claptrap of us preferring to lose 2-3 than win 1-0. 

In reality, most folks see beyond the "occasion" (at least once they sober up) and grasp that like Arsenal last week, the mackems face some fairly substantial in-house issues. That's a mirror image of us losing here under JFK in the relegation season, when we were using words like "stagnated". 

Aside from the result and the points, another pleasing aspect of Saturday was that there looked to be an element of unity among the players - a pertinent factor given worries about the influx of French players and departure/absence of others leading to dressing room cliques appearing. Under- played by the media but also not to be underestimated as a positive factor was the player bonus row that was recently settled - a genuine bone of contention since Pardew's arrival.

There were two public displays of that collective mood on Saturday, beginning with the squad ending their warm-up session by gathering round coach John Carver before approaching the away section en masse and applauding them. If that was calculated though, the repeat performance on full time was more instinctive, with shirts thrown into the celebrating throng and much fist-clenching - hardly the sinking ship Jose Enrique had spoken about last week from the safety of Anfield.  

In highlighting these cameos, we're of course running the risk of over-egging this particular pudding and joining other commentators in trotting out the "smells like toon spirit" line yet again. From our own perspective, genuine spirit will be evident when we're playing badly at home, ignore moaners and flouncers in the stands and dig something out to salvage a point or three - like that 4-4 draw.

And of course, whatever else may happen to this squad before the window closes will also be a test of their collective mettle - there wasn't much spirit when we lost at Fulham in February after Carroll left, when Shola promptly smashed his jaw and it all looked a bit too much for us to bear. Three days later though (and at 0-4 down) something stirred....

In our darker moments, the prospect of our first two opponents this season handing out score- settling spankings had been mentioned in terms of a reality check/panic attack in order to unlock transfer funds before the window closed. 

Having avoided that with something to spare though, it's as well to recall that a long and punishing season awaits most clubs and in our case, we normally manage to find additional ways of leaving ourselves short-handed (selling without replacing, buying tripe, prison sentences, split fingers etc). 

Is a return of four points now enough for our renowned football thinkers to rule that everything in the Gallowgate garden is rosy and we'll get the rest of the points we need to finish 17th with no further outlay? Offering the contents of the training room swear box for Charlton's goalkeeper hardly inspires confidence....

Let's be right about this: if the current squad were a cricket team, it's fair to say we'd have a long tail. And while keeping goals out is a pleasing new habit, scoring them remains a genuine worry. 

Not today though, the one we got was priceless. Who put the ball in the mackem net? Oh, Ryan!  

Biffa