Where were you when Kenedy shot?

2 mins Jonjo Shelvey's forward pass reached Kenedy as his run took him into the Southampton box and the Chelsea loanee took it on his chest, turning adeptly before hitting his shot into the turf and over Alex McCarthy into the Leazes End net. Belter. 1-0

29 mins A Southampton corner fell to Mario Lemina outside the Newcastle box and he swung his boot at the ball but failed to connect. The lurking Perez gathered possession and broke upfield, laying the ball off to Dwight Gayle, who had made a lung-bursting run from deep in his own box.

Perhaps mindful of having lost out in a one on one with McCarthy moments earlier, United's number nine elected not to shoot and unselfishly threaded the ball across the box for Kenedy to side-foot low beyond the goalkeeper's despairing dive from five yards. 2-0

Half time: Magpies 2 Saints 0

The lad in the blue coat ended up fielding the corner flag - with his face

57 mins Jonjo Shelvey jockeyed on the edge of the Southampton box as if seeking sight of goal, before finally acknowledging the raised arms of Matt Ritchie in acres of space infield and rolling the ball into his path. The former Bournemouth man netted with a 20 yard grass cutter into the bottom corner of the Gallowgate net, with the 'keeper's weary and perfunctory dive made in vain. 3-0

Full time: Magpies 3 Saints 0

Rafa Benitez:

"We needed to start with intensity and we did it.

“We scored the goal and after, we were pushing, we were aggressive, we scored a second goal.

"After the game against Bournemouth, we said: ‘We have to kill the game, we need to score the third goal’, so everything was perfect because the commitment of the players and the work-rate was fantastic, and also the way that we were playing.

“We knew that Southampton are a good team, that they would have good possession, so we needed to be strong in defence, regain and play good counter-attack, so there were a lot of things that we did well today.

"I have seen the table, obviously, but it's not a big difference for me. We knew that we had to win those game, and now we will have in three weeks Huddersfield and it will be another massive game.

"But still we have to win two or three games if we want to be sure that we are in the Premier League next year.”

On Kenedy:

"He's a different kind of player to what we had.

"He's comfortable on the ball with his left foot, his deliveries, his passes, his shooting, so he's quite comfortable with his left foot.

“Still, he is a young player who's improving, but he has the potential to grow, to be a much better player.

"It's the challenge for him to be ready for the next team or whatever, but we're happy to see him here and playing well for us."

On Shelvey:

“When we were talking about him, the idea was maybe that he couldn’t play. On Tuesday, even Wednesday, we were talking about that.

"But he was pushing, he was desperate to play and credit to him because he did well.

"In another case, maybe another player would not be playing, but he decided to play, took the risk and it was quite positive.

"He’s someone who has a personality and confidence in himself, so he has to do that like the majority of these players.

"They try and we have to improve little things, but at least the commitment is there. 

"That is the best way to improve and to be sure that the team as a team is stronger.”

Mauricio Pellegrino cut a forlorn figure standing on his own in tracky bottoms and trainers:

"The spirit of the team and the attitude is everything. We have been talking about this a lot.

"You can have good players, you can have a budget, but without personality and spirit, it's really difficult to compete at this level.

"When you concede in the first minute, you feel the game will be tough and every single negative impact is massive for you.

"I observed some players who gave up and we cannot show this. We were never a threat for Newcastle."

 

One day short of two years since taking charge of the club, Rafa Benitez looked on as Newcastle registered a victory of monumental importance in terms of determining their top-flight future.

Striker Islam Slimani may remain unavailable, but the goalscoring burden was shouldered by fellow loanee Kenedy, who netted his first for the club after just 64 seconds and then crucially repeated the feat before the interval just as the woeful visitors looked to be waking from their slumbers. 

Matt Ritchie rounded off a resounding success after the break with his second goal in successive home games to delight another sell-out SJP crowd, who cheered all three goals to the rafters - hardly surprising when one considers they'd only seen that many in the previous six home games. 

Despite a woeful record of just one win in sixteen league games, Southampton took to the field having proved to be obstinate opponents on the road on numerous occasions. Any thoughts of a stonewall approach rapidly disintegrated though, as Kenedy netted with perhaps the closest a Newcastle player has come to replicating that "Bergkamp round Dabizas" effort here in 2002.

Dwight Gayle then twice misfired when well placed in front of goal, but the suggestion of a Saints revival was quashed by a contender for goal of the season, as United counter-attacked in simply glorious fashion and the crowd roared then on until Kenedy tipped home amid great acclaim. 

Mauricio Pellegrino's side were simply never in the game from then on and a repetition of the points failure at Bournemouth when we allowed 2-0 to become 2-2 was never remotely in danger.

There were encouraging displays across the pitch, Shelvey and Mo Diame reprising their central midfield dominance of the last home game against Manchester United, Florian Lejeune continuing to improve alongside Lascelles and Dummett deservedly earning some recognition for his efforts. 

Shelvey is worthy of further mention, eager to return from injury and contribute to this vital win despite the knowledge that he was only a stray kick away from seeing his season curtailed.

It's fair to say that we haven't always been his biggest fans and the frustration we've felt at his avoidable antics has been on a par with Joey Barton, but a combination of belated self-awareness and managerial influence is making the positives outweigh the negatives.

A very welcome second successive home victory and clean sheet took United up to 32 points and 13th place in the table - five points above the bottom three with an enhanced goal difference.

On a pivotal weekend in the Premier League - both in terms of results and events - a collective satisfaction in a job well done; an opportunity taken for once and something resembling harmony between crowd, team, manager and club evident. For once, the implosions are elsewhere. 

Biffa