19.8 secs The hosts kicked off and the ball reached the edge of the United box, where Isaac Hayden controlled it and played a pass out to Jamal Lewis out by the touchline.

He pumped the ball over the halfway line, Branislav Ivanovic miscuing his challenge and allowing Callum Wilson gaining possession. He scampered forward and found Joelinton infield, who put the ball into the path of Miguel Almiron with a perfectly-weighted pass.

The Paraguayan had the simple task of stroking the ball left-footed into the corner of the Leazes End goal with the tenth Toon touch of the move. Brutal. Brilliant. 1-0

Half time: Magpies 1 Baggies 0

50 mins Matt Phillips made some space to put over a cross from the left. There appeared no danger as it fell to Lewis but the defender took a step back, allowing Darnell Furlong to sprint towards the ball and volley it past Karl Darlow into the corner.

Furlong's father Paul netted at the other end of the ground in the colours of Chelsea back in September 1994.  1-1

82 mins Newcastle substitute Jacob Murphy steadied himself before putting over the perfect cross from the United right, bisecting two defenders and dropping onto Dwight Gayle's head. The ex-Baggie loanee made no mistake, heading into the top corner and in off the bar. 2-1

Full time: Magpies 2 Baggies 1

Slaven Bilic

"I think we deserved something from the game. We had a really bad start. We gave a cheap goal away in the first minute.

"In the first half they were stronger than us. They were first to the second balls. They were better in 50-50s.

"We had a much better mentality in the second half. We were brighter, stronger, better. We equalised, and then the game became stretched after that. We had waves. They had waves.

We were trying to get into the pockets with Filip and Conor. We kept getting into good situations, but we didn’t turn those situations into chances.

"They put one cross in and they scored the winner - we should’ve had enough bodies to stop it. We are all very disappointed. It was a game of very fine margins.

"We’re going home empty-handed and that hurts."

About his tenure: 

"It's not a question for me as I am doing my job and I don't get those signals or that information.

"It's about the result of course, but today we showed again that we are there in the game to the end. We showed the character and the mentality and the quality to some degree, and the team is very much alive.

"It was a game of little margins in the end - they scored incredibly early from a situation from which we had to do better, and after that their physicality and quality up front was better than ours.

"But in the second half it was more a change of bravery and mentality, and we were good - we scored the goal but we didn't create enough clear-cut chances and again we conceded a goal that we have to stop."
 

Saturday saw Newcastle record back to back Premier League victories for the first time this season - thanks to the timely return of Dwight Gayle.

Ahead after just 20 seconds of the first half through Miguel Almiron, the hosts failed to build on that early advantage and were punished when Darnell Furlong levelled five minutes into the second half.

In need of inspiration, Steve Bruce sent on Gayle for his first game of the season and the striker quickly saw a header cleared off Albion's goal line. However, Gayle wasn't to be denied a comeback goal and with eight minutes of normal time remaining, met a gorgeous deep cross from fellow substitute and Baggies old boy Jacob Murphy, to restore Newcastle's advantage.

Despite fears that United would be short-handed following their recent COVID issues, eight of the side who started at Crystal Palace retained their place.

Absent were Federico Fernandez and Javier Manquillo, while Jeff Hendrick was in the squad but on the bench. Fabian Schar and Mark Gillespie were also missing from the squad at Selhurst Park, while Jamaal Lascelles, Ryan Fraser, Allan Saint-Maximin, Martin Dubravka and Paul Dummett remained out.

Beginning with five men in midfield and a three man defence including Isaac Hayden, United switched to a four man backline following their opening goal.

Any thoughts of ring-rustiness following an enforced two week break from play soon disintegrated after Callum Wilson pushed forward down the left, Joelinton helped the ball across the box and Almiron was on hand to fire home at the Leazes End - all within 20 seconds of the first whistle.

Almiron and Joelinton both tested visiting goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, but Albion came more into the game as half time neared - Newcastle seemingly content to try and soak up increasing pressure.

With just three away goals to their name so far this season, the Baggies came close to levelling on 42 minutes; Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher seeing his first time shot flash wide of Karl Darlow's goal.

United failed to respond to the threat of their opponents however and a double switch at the interval and a formational tweak soon paid dividends as Jamal Lewis waited in vain for a ball from the Albion left to drop and Furlong nipped in to brilliantly steer a shot home from near the edge of the box.

Despite a supposed player shortage, United still had enough options on their bench to tweak their own slumbering line-up - and those changes proved decisive in regaining the initiative and the lead.

As most teams this season have found, Slaven Bilic's defence crumble under pressure and once we actually started going forward and sending early and accurate crosses over, the inevitable happened.

The closing stages saw Newcastle look to protect their lead and introduce DeAndre Yedlin for his first league action of the current campaign.

Had there been a crowd inside SJP, Wilson's Alan Shearer impression by the corner flag to run the clock down in added time would surely have been cheered to the echo.

Stand-in defender Hayden missed out on a deserved ovation at the final whistle meanwhile, after a solid display that belied the fact he'd been laid low by COVID and only just returned to training.

Much was made after our last game of the Wilson/Joelinton front pair, but today's first sighting of a Wilson/Gayle partnership was just as positive.

While Wilson has rightly been hailed a success for seven goals in 10 PL games (one every 126 minutes), Gayle has netted five in his ten outings since June and is currently scoring with greater regularity (one every 98 minutes).

Quite what the future holds for Gayle remains to be seen, with his contract ending next summer. If it comes down to a straight choice though, extending the deal of this 30 year-old has to be a better bet than the spent force that is Andy Carroll - 32 next month. 

Kevin Keegan knew after that FA Cup tie at Anfield that it was time to pack in; Carroll's ineffectiveness in the League Cup at Newport should be taken in a similar vein. Sadly for us though, the only time in recent years Gayle has remained fit for a full season was when he was loaned out to West Brom.

Back to back victories then, and the fact that both were achieved without Allan Saint-Maximin on the field won't have escaped the Head Coach.

After the issues that have beset us in recent weeks, the only thing that truly mattered today was a positive result against mediocre opposition. Thankfully that was achieved, even if the manner wasn't always particularly convincing. 

It's nice not to be completely reliant on the scoring prowess of one player and encouraging that we've managed more than one goal in successive league games for the first time this season. Consistently playing at a higher level and actually developing as a team is something else entirely though. 

Biffa