13mins Yoann Gouffran dispossessed Paulinho in midfield and in one fluid movement set fellow countryman Loic Remy in on goal. Outpacing the nearest two defenders, Remy then swerved to avoid the oncoming Brad Friedel before steering the ball with his left foot into the unguarded net at the Park Lane End of the ground from 10 yards. 

The goalscorer ran towards the corner flag nearest to the Shelf to celebrate, from where something (possibly a coin) was thrown but whizzed past him. 1-0

Half time: Cockerels 0 Magpies 1

Full time: Cockerels 0 Magpies 1

AvB:

"We gave the first half advantage to Newcastle, although I think we were very unlucky during all of the game. We had so many good, good chances that I think the result is very unfair.

"Obviously Newcastle came in strong and really played well in the first half. I think they deserved to get that lead, I think we didn't recognise ourselves in the first half. We were not on top of our game and let ourselves be anticipated a lot. It wasn't one of our better first halves.

"Still we had some good opportunities in the first half, then in the second half if we had been a bit more lucky we could have drawn the game and gone on from there. Disappointing because it's not what we deserved. We gave a good response in the second half."

"Last season he had a great game here as well (Krul), and today he was the inspiration. He made the difference today. Our disappointment comes from that, although I still think had one of those opportunities gone in we would have won the game.”

Remembrance Sunday saw the Toon Army on parade at a scandalously early hour, before saluting the pivotal contribution of one of their allies - the Royal Dutch Air Force to be precise.

To say that Tim Krul did his bit for the cause was to almost scandalously underplay his role in this victory, but following crucial stops against Liverpool and Chelsea, today saw Tim Krul almost single-handedly ensure that his side claimed an unlikely three points.     

We'd worried early on in this game about his lack of headgear when guarding the Paxton Lane End goal in bright midday sunshine, but the Dutch master was equal to everything that Spurs could conjure up - also defying physics to block to deny a wild attempted clearance from Cheick Tiote.  

Both he and opposite number Brad Friedel took in the World Tour Tennis at the 02, but it was the Magpie custodian who served up ace after ace here today. Tottenham's first choice goalie Hugo Lloris has been seeing stars of a slightly different kind lately, which led to his absence from the squad here and saw 42 year-old veteran Friedel pressed into service. 

In order to cling on to a lead though, one has to first grab one - and thankfully Newcastle's other potent performer was in the wide awake club; Loic Remy opening the scoring with his second half-chance of the game after a timely intervention from Yoan Gouffran set him off at a gallop.      

Donning in their 1970s revival third kit for the first time (itself styled on Brazil's iconic garb) Alan Pardew's yellow perils were quickly into their stride, mirroring the positive starts that yielded victories at Villa and Cardiff - showing the vigour and commitment so sadly absent on wearside.  

The remainder of the half saw United continue to probe away with some fine pressing, passing and movement to frustrate Spurs. Krul drew applause when acrobatically tipping Roberto Soldado's header wide and denying Paulinho, but the cheers of the away section at half time were in recognition of a tremendous team performance from the XI that had begun the Chelsea game.

That meant that a fit-again Fabricio Coloccini was benched in favour of retaining the central defensive partnership of Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Mike Williamson. Meanwhile the 4-4-2 lineup apparently favoured within the dressing room was retained, Shola Ameobi continuing up top alongside Remy in preference to Papiss Cisse or Hatem Ben Arfa, who were among the subs.

Krul's workload was to increase after the break as a revitalised Spurs side swarmed forward down their right flank, cranking up the pressure on Davide Santon to breaking point. A creeping conviction that this was going to be our day grew when a trio of clearances via an outstretched leg rebounded away from opponents - on another day they'd have fallen perfectly for someone to capitalise on.

The game then truly entered the realms of ridiculousness when Krul pulled off another stunning block, instinctively sticking out his arm to block Tiote and dealing with two further efforts before a miraculous clearance by Yanga-Mbiwa finally cleared the danger. Escape to Victory anyone?

United attempted to boost their midfield presence by adding Vurnon Anita in place of the tiring Ameobi, whose physical presence and ability to hold the ball up had been invaluable. Wave after wave of Spurs attacks continued as chances were created and squandered and the clock ticked away - the crossbar coming into play on the one occasion when Krul was seemingly beaten.

Remy was then replaced by Papiss Cisse - who flashed one half chance over the bar - but Spurs remained more likely to score, Jermain Defoe appearing after having broken the Cockerels' European scoring record here four days earlier. Thankfully he was unusually quiet and with Gabriel Obertan on for Gouffran in the closing stages, United continued to hang onto their slender advantage.

Referee Chris Foy waved away two unlikely home penalty claims for handball, the momentum built up by Spurs ebbing away in five additional minutes as Moussa Sissoko was chopped down in full flight by Michael Dawson. Full time then saw a clearly delighted Krul mobbed by colleagues and coaches alike and celebrating by tossing his gloves into the lower tier of a jubilant travelling section.

Glory, glory Alan Pardew then: cock of the walk once again after some difficult days this season, not all of them down to the performance of his side on the field. We wait to see whether JFK claims credit in his next programme notes for this win though, after having allegedly scouted his former side in advance of Newcastle's visit.

The continued absence of Jonas Gutierrez due to undisclosed personal reasons has seen Gabriel Obertan creep back into the first team picture ahead of Sammy Ameobi as left-side cover, while an evident collective desire to have 11 players contributing looks to have seen Ben Arfa voted off.  

Sylvain Marveaux meanwhile has been relegated to the status of a non-person - answers on a postcard for that one please - while occasional outings for Vurnon Anita seem unlikely to promote him to the Dutch World Cup squad, something that doesn't seem to be a concern.   

Options and choices then, but the upturn in performances from Sissoko, Gouffran, Williamson and Tiote means that Pardew has the luxury of being able to select and retain players because of displays that warrant their selection, rather than a lack of viable alternatives. In terms of goalscoring though, we remain a one man team - and that is a significant concern.  

Andre Villas-Boas may not have taken kindly to Pardew's post-match comments about the downside of European participation, but it's a matter of record that Spurs have lost six Premier League games in the last year - all on Sundays and all after Thursday night Europa League ties. We of course were able to adversely affect our league performance last season for a fraction of Tottenham's outlay...  

The perfect opportunity to add six points to our tally now presents itself when ex-Toon interim bosses Chris Hughton and Steve Clarke bring their current sides to SJP on successive Saturdays. 

Given Newcastle's sheer unpredictability though, quite simply anything could happen - and more Magpie mishaps could just as easily leave the present incumbent in the clarts as contemplating his acceptance speech for the November manager of the month. The little matter of Remy's next court date on November 21st also remains as a potential fast-track to misery.  

The sheer joy of witnessing an away victory remains undimmed and there's always a special delight in sticking it up these lot on their own pitch - that's for 1987, again. Whether we'll ever aspire to be anything more than party poopers is questionable, but as a one-off this was truly glorious.

Biffa