Alan Pardew's Newcastle climbed to third in the Premier League after giving Tony Pulis' side a taste of their own medicine at the Britannia Stadium on Monday evening.

Striker Demba Ba hit his second hat-trick of the season to take him on a staggering eight goals in the last five league games, as we registered a maiden Premier League victory against the Potters at the fifth time of asking.

If United had gone off the boil in the Carling Cup at Ewood Park last week, the gas had been turned up full for this live TV encounter as they put in a simmering performance to deservedly made it thirteen league games undefeated.

Dressed all in black, Pardew's hit squad took care of Stoke's hatchet men and we even had a deadly weapon to rival Rory's rifle, with Ryan Taylor's rapier-like long throws.

At last, a team taking the lead here had the gumption to use the towels the ballboys are issued with to take their time over throw-ins, although they should have done it more and taken longer, which would have further riled a home crowd who couldn't stand to see another side doing it.

Just about everything about Stoke is vile. The "city", the location of the ground, the stadium, the players and manager but most of all its followers. The Vic may now have been levelled, but everything else is unchanged from the bad old days: similarities to wearside are very evident and recollections of the mayhem of the 1995 League Cup game remain fresh.

And aside from the joy of our own achievement, there was great satisfaction to be had in seeing some of City's players suffer - that sense of schadenfreude not just restricted to the misadventures of former mackems clad in this red and white garb. To nick their song, we stood there laughing....

Be it Shawcross and his self-inflicted groin injury. Delap's laughable party-piece and lack of footballing ability that leaves them a player short. Woodgate's hair. Huth blowing any chance of a comeback with a pointless push.

That latter moment was delayed justice: like a certain Mr Shearer, I've not forgotten how he stamped his studs on the golden balls of our famous no.9 when we beat Chelsea at St. James'.

And perhaps it's just me but I cannot abide Tony Pulis. 

The way he prances about in his cap and trainers, shouting vile abuse at anyone within spitting distance of his technical area. His tactics, the shortening/widening of the pitch, watering of the away team's half and then post-match moaning dressed up in a smug, camera-friendly persona. Only "Colin" Warnock can rival him for his two-facedness after being a devil-incarnate during the game.

But it was Ba's perfect hat-trick; header, left-foot and right-foot that stole the show for a Newcastle side that keeps defying all the odds and now sits on the shoulders of the Manchester money-men with Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Andy Carroll's outfit left trailing in our wake.

Quite when and where this will all end is anyone's guess but the crest of this particular wave just gets longer and longer and we're all enjoying the ride.

Our lot looked "at it" from the off and the pre-match high fives and hugs seemed absolutely genuine as their team spirit appears to strengthen game by game and memories of those "big personalities" in the dressing room diminish.

Steven Taylor returned clad in a transparent plastic mask of the type previously worn by Shola Ameobi (and Leon Best in his Coventry City days) to protect his broken nose and gave a typically fearless performance at the back.

Even Gabriel Obertan was chasing down lost causes and after 12 minutes was rewarded by running onto Leon Best's flick before providing a pinpoint cross for Ba to head home and give his side a deserved lead.

It was a sweet moment for Ba who had been all set to join Stoke before signing for West Ham back in January and he was able to hammer home the point again before the break, converting Best's scuffed shot to send the away end into delirium.

With the home side employing its usual thuggery - notably Jonathan Walters' first half assault on Ryan Taylor - the absence of Cheick Tiote did nothing to hamper United's dominance of the middle of the park, Danny Guthrie revelled in that midfield role on what was his first league start of the season.

The defence meanwhile gets better and better; Danny Simpson having one of his best games for us and Captain Colo as dependable as ever. Like Cabaye, he also avoided the booking that would have brought both players to within a yellow card of a one game ban.

Ryan Taylor though personified our attitude: self-belief, confidence and controlled "take no crap" aggression. Having held the view - along with most others seemingly - that his replacing Enrique at left back was no more than the flimsiest of stop-gap measures, he is in the form of his life. 

If anyone is looking for evidence of Alan Pardew's managerial talent, then the immeasurable improvement in our number 16 is exhibit A. Part of the shadow squad 12 months ago and drafted in only for Carling Cup nights, he now had the honour of being rested at Ewood last week.

And once again he claimed an assist of sorts to go with his headlining "over the wall" efforts - the long throw leading to our penalty award now going alongside the deep cross that led to Cabaye's Wigan winner and the subtle pass in the build-up to Shola's Spurs sizzler.

Even a few bits of juggling by Tim Krul went unpunished as we remained strong after the break but with 15 minutes, remaining a soft penalty award against Ba for a push on Peter Crouch looked set to spark a belated City comeback. With home fans finally finding their voices after Walters had smashed home the spot-kick, we looked set to face our fiercest test of the season to date. 

Just six minutes later though it was game over, when a nudge on Best in the box as he stretched to meet Ryan Taylor's howitzer long throw saw referee Mike Dean once again pointing to the penalty spot. Ba promptly did the business to secure the three points to take us up to the dizzy heights of third position for the first time since the closing weeks of the 2002/03 season - apart from a 24 hour period after beating Wolves this season.

This was a memorable night in many ways, no least for the scoreline and the performance but also the attitude that we exhibited from the off: confident, competitive and in the mood to confirm their footballing superiority against a side who beaten just once at home in the league in 2011.

Pardew had called the win against Wigan our most important result of the season. It may have been, but only until this fabulous victory. Definitely one for the memory banks.

Niall Mackenzie