United rounded off 2016 by returning to the top of the Championship after dishing out some justice on Nottingham Forest at a packed and relieved St. James' Park on Friday evening.

The justice was poetic in that Forest had a player sent off minutes before Dwight Gayle made it 2-1; later bundling in a third to avenge an infamous defeat at the City Ground earlier in the month when Jonjo Shelvey and Paul Dummett were wrongly dismissed.

With Brighton and Reading having their games postponed and abandoned respectively due to fog, victory saw us leapfrog the Seagulls and open up a nine point lead over the third-placed Royals.

Gayle's double restored his goal-per-start record after failing to register against Wednesday and although goals 18 & 19 for the club were both in the box, they couldn't have been more different.

His first was a fabulous finish from a tight angle that left Stojkovic motionless but his second came off his chest and fooled the Forest 'keeper

Matt Ritchie had given his side the perfect start when his free-kick from 25 yards in front of the Leazes End hit the defensive wall and wrong-footed Stojkovic in just the fourth minute.

Forest responded with a couple of excursions upfield that ended in wayward shots, but got back on terms just before the half hour when on-loan Napoli striker Nicolao Dumitru beat Karl Darlow from eight yards to notch his first goal in English football.

From the side beaten here by Sheffield Wednesday, Rafa Benitez elected to bench Mo Diame, Yoan Gouffran and Vurnon Anita - Ayoze Perez, Christian Atsu and DeAndre Yedlin replacing them.

That reshuffle paid dividends, with the tempo and intensity of United's play better - aided in no small part by an evident desire to atone for the defeat suffered in the corresponding game a month ago. 

Lacking pantomime villain Henri Lansbury, Forest's general approach remained unchanged, their first illegal challenge made after precisely eight seconds and followed almost continual play-acting. Clearly that's a deliberate tactic by their manager.

An early goal maintained the mood but once back at 1-1, the enthusiasm of a Championship record crowd of 52,228 waned and United's lack of progress was reflected in frustration from the stands.

Resuming with the same side, United moved the ball quicker and Gayle moved out to the left before setting up Atsu - his effort blocked and reaching Ritchie to batter a first-time shot off Stojkovic.

The antics of Forest had succeeded in winding up home fans and the volume was turned up after an hour when Matt Mills received his marching orders following two bookings in the same incident.

Going through Perez in the middle of the pitch earned Mills a first yellow, shoving the ball into Gayle's chest in view of the fourth official the second. Self-inflicted, avoidable, hilarious. 

Attacking with renewed vigour and that numerical advantage, the crowd's encouragement was soon repaid by Gayle with a classic poacher's strike.  

The arrival of Diame in a central midfield role gave United some additional presence and threat from that area and he pressed forward at every opportunity.

It took 17 more minutes to get the third goal that sealed the points, Ritchie's dangerous low cross from the right virtually walked into the net by a clearly injured Gayle. 

By then though Forest had accepted their fate and rarely looked like denying Newcastle a significant and morale-boosting victory to close off 2016.

The performance wasn't always top drawer, but United's work ethic and will to win was evident and Gayle's striking instincts thankfully undiminished.

Another wrong righted then; similar belligerence is now required at Ewood Park against a Rovers side who somehow left SJP with three points in November. 

Biffa