11 mins With some home followers taking their seats after their boycott, the home defence was still sadly absent as Hernandez beat the offside trap to collect an excellent Robert Snodgrass cross and beat Martin Dubravka in the Gallowgate goal. 0-1

Half time: Magpies 0 Irons 1

63 mins Fabian Schar played on Hernandez when a hopeful punt forward was flicked on by Marko Arnautovic for "Chicharito" to hit a low shot inside Dubravka's near post into the Leazes End goal. 0-2

90+3 mins An awful pass from Manquillo was intercepted and played to Anderson allowing him to beat Dubravka with a low shot. 0-3

Full time: Magpies 0 Irons 3

Rafa Benitez:
 

Manuel Pellegrini said: 

"We are very satisfied because I think the team played a very good game. We scored three good goals and created at least four or five more chances to score. And we kept a clean sheet, which is not very normal for us this season, so we're pleased. It was the complete game.

"I am satisfied because it was a complete performance both in defending and in attacking. First in defending, I think we changed from the bad game we had against Manchester City and didn’t make one mistake.

"And in attacking, scoring three goals in a game is not easy, especially against Newcastle who is one of the better defensive teams better in the Premier League. They were coming in off three wins in a row, so I think we were a balanced team and produced a complete performance.

"I enjoyed it, of course, because when you’re a manager or a player, in the first five or ten minutes you know how you’re going to play. After that, a lot of balls decide the score, but I think we started the game differently to the way we started against Brighton or Huddersfield, so I was calm.

"We were playing the way we need to, with intensity without the ball and quality when we had the ball. I’m not thinking about being an away or a home team. We are trying to work every day to have a style as a team and to try to play.

"You cannot play exactly the same away as you do at home, but we want to have that trust and confidence that we can go away and win and I think that one of the best things we did on Saturday was that, from the first minute, we tried to score and to win the game.

"We didn’t wait to see what the other team will do and if we can attack sometimes, we will do it. We must trust a lot in the way we work every day and that style is the way we should play in every game." 

This game is destined to be remembered for the events of the eleventh minute, when a section of the Newcastle support took their seats after leaving them symbolically empty to illustrate eleven wasted years of Mike Ashley's ownership.

In typical fashion though, their first glimpse of action was seeing a West Ham player knock the ball into the Gallowgate goal and in doing so, virtually end the game as a meaningful contest.

Those protestors missed an encouraging opening period of play when Rafa's side looked confident, but having conceded struggled increasingly to react in a positive and cohesive way against a side who had won just once in their last six games.  

The Magpies came into this game following three victories, but that run abruptly end at a cold and damp St. James' Park against more mobile, imaginative and expensively-assembled opponents. 

And having mostly suffered in silence, home followers abandoned their posts well before the end in numbers that far exceeded any protests, walkouts, boycotts or other action. And you wonder why the rest of the country thinks we're a bloody laughing stock.

From a position of near despair at the end of October, nine points in November had visibly lifted the spirits of team and fans alike. Nobody should have been fooled into thinking that this season would be anything other than a grim struggle and the next transfer window of sizeable importance.

Certainly not Benitez, whose description of every game needing a cup final level of performance may have sounded like a cliche, but was bang on. In order to stand a chance of getting anything from most games, we need to be at full throttle and hoping for blips from the opposing players. Not quite David v Goliath but underdogs nonetheless, especially today with the opposition price tags on show. 

His challenge remains to try and dampen the over-reaction of some supporters, be it pessimism or over-confidence. God alone knows what prompted him to mention European qualification in his post match press conference today though, surely only reacting to some slack-jawed scribe.

(He also has the unenviable task of coaxing performances from journeymen dullards such as Manquillo and Atsu - renegotiating international trade agreements may be more achievable.)

There were half-chances to get a foothold before West Ham finally collected a second goal that had been coming for some time, and there was also a point in the first half when the visitors were rattled after a couple of bookings. That quickly passed though, the uplift from the crowd only fleeting.

Mexican Javier Hernandez and Brazilian Felipe Anderson got the goals while United's Latin American duo had an afternoon to forget. Kenedy and Salomon Rondon both failed to reprise match-winning displays in the previous home game against Bournemouth and few in a black and white shirt could look back on this one with much pride.

One exception was Ki Sungyueng, who had a fine first half and was instrumental in creating various chances that should have seen lead at the break, Ayoze Perez once again wasteful.

His failure to execute several opportunities later saw him ironically cheered off when replaced by Joselu - a totally avoidable and inexcusable situation, but one that has been prompted by a perception that the player has special status among the management.

The rest of his colleagues were also uniformly off their game and delivery into the box from Matt Ritchie and DeAndre Yedlin simply wasn't good enough. On the few occasions they managed to find Rondon, his efforts were off target or straight at the keeper, lacking power and accuracy.

But Rafa's backline caused most concern, Monday's successful line-up altered to include the woeful Javier Manquillo at left back, Ciaran Clark demoted to the bench as United reverted to a back four.

Fabian Schar played on Hernandez for his second goal when a hopeful punt forward was flicked on by Marko Arnautovic for "Chicharito" to hit a low shot inside Dubravka's near post.

That knocked the stuffing out of the home side, who had a good chance to get one back instantly that Rondon failed to reach. Substitute Christian Atsu's long effort was then easily saved by Lukasz Fabianski as Newcastle reverted to shot-shy mode - the paucity of their goal attempts matched by their abysmal crossing and set pieces, time and again failing to clear the first defender.

Jonjo Shelvey and then Joselu arrived from the bench but neither made any impact, Shelvey again blasting a dangerous free-kick well over the crossbar - something that has become a trademark and is utterly unforgivable for a team who don't create a great deal from open play.

At 0-2 the game was long gone and in the third minute of added time an awful pass from Manquillo was intercepted, allowing Anderson to beat Dubravka and complete this Hammer horror show.

Of those who hadn't already sloped off, some remained to boo at the final whistle before shuffling out disconsolately, in stark contrast to the jubilant scenes in Lancashire on Monday.

Results elsewhere were mixed, leaving United in fifteenth three points off the bottom three. The trip to Goodison Park looks even more daunting on the back of this dismantling, but the visit of Wolves next Sunday still offers the opportunity of earning points. Our fragility means that scoring the first goal remains crucial though - if we go behind, we invariably stay behind. 

As was the case last season, there will be ups and downs, days when the better/richer team rightly wins. Holding your nerve and just plugging away becomes essential on and off the field, not flouncing off at the first sign of things going wrong. The sub-standard performers aren't all on the pitch.

Biffa/Niall