36mins Yohan Cabaye sent the ball over for Ameobi to spring at the front post, Baggies' 'keeper Boaz Myhill fluff his punch and Yoan Gouffran glance the ball home via the back of his head for a third goal in as many home games 1-0

Half time: Magpies 1 Baggies 0

53mins Morgan Amalfitano's cross from the right reached danger man Shane Long, who got between Mike Williamson and Debuchy to flick the ball on to the unmarked Chris Brunt, who blasted beyond Krul and into the roof of the Leazes net 1-1

57mins A triangle of passes on halfway between Cabaye and Gouffran led to Davide Santon flicking the ball forward. Controlled headers from Ameobi and Remy saw it arrive with Moussa Sissoko, who took a touch before crashing home an unstoppable right foot strike from 25 yards 2-1

Full time: Magpies 2 Baggies 1

Alan Pardew:

"(all the players deserve) a lot of credit, because we've had to work very, very hard today. 

"I think West Brom showed why they've been beaten only once on the road. They were very resilient - a good team, good quality, experience. They got back in it with a great goal from Brunt. But we wouldn't be denied.

"We've had that kind of mood in our dressing room for a while now, perhaps since the second half against Everton, we've had a real resilience that we're really going to push and I thought we just edged it today.

"The second goal was an absolute cracker and at the end in which (Alan) Shearer smashed so many in. It's great to see a new name do that and Moussa's work rate and commitment was just as good as the goal. He's had a few chances and he waited for the ball to come down and he's hit it true. It brought the house down.

"It's important in the Premier League to have momentum. It's an amazing armoury and if we keep that glow and feeling then we'll keep plugging away.

“I sensed before the game that the group is very, very strong. There’s a really good feeling in there. Everybody is fit and available, so your Yohan Cabayes and Colos can look around that dressing room and see quality, and quality not even involved – Steven Taylor didn’t even make the bench.

“We have got a strength in depth that we didn’t have even when we finished fifth two years ago, but certainly the fact that we are not playing Europa League and we are getting that extra work on the training ground is definitely showing.

“There’s a good chance I could win French Manager of the Year. It’s something I have got my eye on! A lot of offensive players happen to be French, so that would fit in with them scoring most of the goals.

“When they arrived in January, certainly the four who are prominent at the moment – Yoan Gouffran, Moussa Sissoko, Mathieu Debuchy and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa – there were question marks about their commitment, their mental strength for this division and their physical strength, and they did struggle a little bit.

“But they have overcome that now, and Yohan’s interview this week was very, very good when he said that the France national side is benefiting from his new capability of coping with the energy in this division.

“In Ligue 1 in France, it isn’t as high-impact and as high-energy as the Premier League. These guys are benefiting from it and I can understand why the French manager is looking at our players, because they are playing at a higher level, there’s no doubt about that.

"It's getting cold, I'm a southerner so I'm sure the Geordie faithful won't mind me wearing a scarf."

Match winner Moussa Sissoko:

"This is where I hoped we would get to when I joined.

"Last season was a really difficult time for Newcastle, but when we arrived we had a mission, and our mission was to make sure we got the points on the board to stay up. It was very hard, but we did it and we succeeded in our mission in that regard. We don’t want to see the same thing happen to us that happened last season.

"It is up there as one of the greatest goals I have ever scored, probably, in my career, and I am really happy to have scored it. I have been waiting a while for it. Now I am off the mark and I will continue to work hard, mostly to make sure I can keep putting in some great performances on the pitch.

"Goals, when they come along, are always welcome, or the odd assist if I can get them in as well, but the most important thing is the win. It doesn’t matter who scores. As a team, we win together, we lose together and if we score a goal, it’s always a goal together. We all have the same objectives we are working towards.”

"The league position is fantastic. As I have always said in the past though, it doesn’t matter how you score, the most important thing is to score and take away the three points. That’s what we managed to do today, so we are happy. We will enjoy it, but we will go away and rest up.

"We have got a difficult match away at Swansea on Wednesday, but we will go there full of confidence and hopefully come away with three points."

Steve Clarke:

"I thought first half we were too passive in the game - we didn't pass the ball as well as we do and we didn't create enough. We had one or two half chances as Newcastle did. The goal came out of nowhere because the game was drifting towards a goalless first half and then we conceded the goal.

"The second half was good. We played with more intensity, got ourselves back in the game and then a wonder strike denied us any points.

"I just feel that we were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves at times so we spoke about starting the second half on the front foot and getting bodies further forward and getting pressure in and around their defensive area and it started to pay dividends for us.

"Obviously, we got the equaliser and got on top in the game and then they scored against the run of play. We just couldn't create the second equaliser.

"To concede two goals every game is a worry. You need to score two for a point, three for a win. We need to address that. In this league you need points, not performances.

"Their first goal came from nowhere and it was disappointing because we generally defend set-pieces well. We responded well but we couldn’t stay 1-1 for longer, which was our biggest disappointment. We risked a lot at the end to get the equaliser.”

"I thought we could have got something - anyone fair minded would think the same. We have to get ourselves prepared for Man City and start getting some points on the board. I’ve got a good group of players, a committed group of players, but we know that you need results in this league, not just play well.”

Moussa Sissoko picked the perfect moment to score his first goal of the season, as a simply sizzling strike ended the Albion revival at St. James' Park on Saturday night. 

That completed a perfect November for United, with four successive Premier League wins propelling them into fifth place. Sunday's results then pushed them into sixth.

The extra few hours in the pub made possible by the live scheduling of this game for teatime TV seemed to have lubricated throats and the game began in a far better atmosphere than the previous week's visit of Norwich.

Following an eleventh minute round of applause in memory of Gary Speed though, the noise levels dipped somewhat as Newcastle struggled to contain and combat a lively Baggies side who had lost just once on their travels. 

Tim Krul tipped away a long range free-kick from Chris Brunt, before the Baggies captain was yellow-carded for a tug on Sissoko - Cheick Tiote also going into the book after a series of jarring challenges.

With Shola Ameobi again looking in the mood, the first meaningful chance for his side fell to Loic Remy - whose header from a Mathieu Debuchy cross deflected off a defender for a corner kick. That was then dealt with, but was from another corner that United took the lead for the second week running - like buses, you wait for ages then two turn up at once. 

The first half concluded controversially, with Cabaye putting Remy through on goal in added time, only for Jonas Olsson to grab a handful of the United man's shirt. Unbelievably though, referee Phil Dowd simply waved play-on, deeming that the raggy-haired defender hadn't earned a red card for a foul and the Toon man hadn't dived and been deserving of a yellow.  

Dowd also chose not to show Brunt a second yellow for a robust challenge on Cabaye after the break - a decision that soon proved costly for the home side as the Baggies Captain equalised.

At that point, this meeting between the two sides was following the format of the previous two; United holding a one goal half time lead before conceding. From our next attack though, that script was well and truly binned. 

Steve Clarke's side endured a 1-2 loss here a year ago earlier thanks a winner deflected in via the posterior of Papiss Cisse, but this year's points-earning strike was somewhat more impressive - Sissoko spectacularly getting off the mark for the season with an unstoppable effort.

Ameobi then set up Remy just after the hour mark, but the Frenchman's strike flew narrowly over the bar, while an ill-advised clearance from Myhill ran to Cabaye, only for his snap shot to be directed straight at the 'keeper.

Dowd waved away a couple of handball appeals, most notably when Cabaye's fierce shot hit Billy Jones' arm but United withstood Albion's late pressure. That was due in no small part to Williamson's handling of substitute Victor Anichebe well - a player who regularly proved to be a handful during his Everton days. 

Four in four then and another deserved victory achieved with as much perspiration as inspiration, edging out a decent enough Baggies side. The Black Country press were rather less impressed however, The Express and Star labelling Albion's performance "'dreadful" - somewhat harsh and disrespectful to an occasionally inspirational evening's work from The Magpies.

November's Manager of the Month award may well end up on Tyneside - a remarkable turnaround since defeat on wearside that looked to have placed Pardew's position in jeopardy, seemingly inevitable Premier League defeats against Chelsea and Spurs looming large at that point.

However six points from those two games were followed up with a pair of home successes in eight days, watched by over 100,000 supporters - a magnificent return and repayment of that support.

From a four game month with three on our own soil, we now move to one in where six games are shared out equally. Putting aside the fact we're in better shape through having played three cup games rather than the six by this point last year, we've also enjoyed good fortune in terms of discipline and injuries.  

Now is the time though that rotation becomes the watchword - and the manager must seriously consider looking beyond his first XI in order to maximise our chances of collecting points. That's a challenge for him and also those players, who face the task of emulating the likes of Williamson, Tiote and Ameobi senior - all of whom have been pressed into service to great effect recently.   

Biffa