It would be easy to underplay the significance of this performance, after all it was only an unconvincing win at relegation certainties Derby, courtesy of a couple of dodgy decisions. The comebacks at Arsenal, Leeds and even Spurs were probably more significant in terms of footballing ability - turning round deficits at those venues were fantastic achievements.

However, I wonder whether this could be a seminal moment in the recent history of Newcastle United. As important as the arrival of Kevin Keegan or the appointment of Bobby Robson to replace Ruud Gullit? That's a bold claim but at 2-0 down, Carl Cort hauled off early again and our captain departing with a nasty head wound, things were pretty desperate. Had Strupar netted a third from a free-kick then we would surely have lost, leaving our Champions League hopes severely dented and a disgruntled Tyneside public ruminating bitterly over their Monday morning cornflakes and papers.

Look at this season's relegation teams. Leicester are down and joining doomed Derby are most likely to be Ipswich - given their daunting run-in. So, Leicester, Ipswich and the mackems (who now look likely to just avoid the drop) have all very recently sampled the rarified air near the top of the Premiership, only for things to inexplicably turn sour. Defeat for us at Derby coupled with the immediate loss of our captain could well have seen us capitulate badly, ending up in the UEFA cup, as Ipswich did last year. 

Therefore the moment that Laurent Robert found the back of the net with a fantastically improvised free-kick could just prove to be a very valuable turning point. Maybe even enough to pay for his £9.5m fee and make up for his teasing displays on the pitch. That goal came completely out of the blue, although Shearer had found the net with a disallowed effort shortly before that.

Belief flooded back into the hearts of those behind the goal - who had continued to support their flagging heroes on the pitch - and that translated to the players who suddenly sensed they were not quite dead and buried. Derby started to get the jitters and their legs turned to jelly as we suddenly rediscovered the fast, fluent football that has delighted so many this season.

We looked fantastic going forward, with Bernard, Robert, Jenas, Dyer, Solano and LuaLua flying at the Rams' defence from all angles. Derby may grumble about the linesman's flag with some justification but they could easily have conceded five by the final whistle such was our rise from the dead. 

When Solano crossed for Dyer to tuck home the equaliser the transition from desolation to delirium was complete. In a strange way the third goal didn't seem to matter. When Robert hit the post and Jenas hit the bar we had already proved that we had risen from the depths of despair and escaped whatever rut we'd been in. 

Having said that, the ballistic celebrations of LuaLua's winner that we all indulged in suggested that the three points were more than just a bit of icing on the cake. 

It would be easy to fall into some gratuitous sexual imagery here but suffice to say, rather than facing a deeply damaging divorce at the final whistle, the fans and players had a broad grin from ear to ear and were enjoying a few deep drags on a cigarette.... 

It's true what they say about the best experiences involving the brain and this was a performance that had been a very cerebral experience. The Derby players lost this one between their ears as soon as we got one back and our lads had regained their belief and confidence, not necessarily their physical or footballing talents.

It left those of us lucky enough to witness it, shaking our heads in disbelief as we left a shell-shocked Pride Park. As is always the case, during the 90 minutes Derby were the enemy and I loved every second of that comeback and how it must have churned the stomachs of the home fans. In the same way that I didn't want the nation's sympathy having trudged wearily from the 4-3s at Anfield, twice, then I enjoyed sticking the knife into the Rams and turning it sadistically. 

However, once we left the stadium and chatted our way back to the car with some philosophical and friendly natives, I felt some regret that bigger bar stewards closer to home would still be in the Premiership while the Rams started to re-visit directions to the less glamorous teams. Like Forest....

It was a bizarre ending to a day that had got off to an odd start. We'd stopped for petrol on the A38 and were informed by the attendant that Kevin Keegan had also filled up there the day before. A long way from Gillingham or Manchester we thought whichever way you look at it. Our only conclusion, prior to hearing about the Schmeichel capture was that the A38 is a road that has plenty of laybys on it....

Team news was as expected, although it wouldn't have been a massive surprise for Bobby to have mixed up his selection a bit to try and shake us out of the run we'd been in. An unbeaten run, lest us not forget.... Steve Harper was doing his best to force his way into the reckoning with his pre-match warm-up. Not as a replacement for his rival Given but as a new striking partner for Shearer. The way he thumped a volley into the top corner past his helpless colleague was enough to get a generous round of applause from the early arrivals.

The events during the 90 minutes are probably best left to greater football tacticians than myself to analyse - any performance that sees a 4-4-2 formation successfully scrapped for a 3-7-0 is way beyond my limited knowledge. What I did witness was another spluttering first half performance that still had one or two crumbs of comfort in it. Dyer is always a threat and had a few passes been crisper and more accurate we could have found ourselves in front. Derby could argue the same and they probably had the best chance when Christie miscued and Morris almost got on the end of it. 

Carl Cort was again the butt of most people's frustrations and the lad is suffering at the moment. As much as I was hoping he would hit a thirty yard thunderbolt to shake off the nerves, it never looked likely. Only Robert threatened to do this with an incredible banana shot but Oakes managed to readjust and tip the drive onto the bar.

At half-time we were again given a suited gentleman from the public attempting to defy odds approaching lottery-winning proportions by using his footballing "abilities" to do something even Pele would struggle with: hit the bar TWICE from 18 yards with just three attempts. The bloke did himself no favours by staying with his slip-ons and slacks but to say he did well to reach the goal would be being generous.

However, Malcolm Christie - a thorn in our side all afternoon - had better luck a few minutes later when he converted a Morris cross to give Derby the lead. Morris himself then volleyed home a stunning volley from a Barton cross and the sky fell in. 

Bobby was brave enough to remove Cort from proceedings - things had got so bad for him that he was taking abuse from all and sundry for things he had little control over unless he had changed his shirt, nationality and hair-do: when Distin gave the ball away and Cort (ambling around 40 yards away) took the flak that was a sign that in politician-speak his position had become untenable.

However, John Gregory threw us a lifeline by taking off Christie and putting on Ravanelli. If it was tactical then Gregory blundered badly. Not only did the Italian miss a sitter that could still have won them the game but he also should have been pulled up for the senseless shirt-pull on LuaLua that would have given us a chance from the spot. LuaLua looked keen and lively as always but this time he was making some runs and passes that began to hurt Derby. Once Shearer's volley was chalked-off and he left after his collision with Rob Lee (Ruud Gullit must have been the only one that enjoyed that moment) our own heads may have dropped again but no, we weren't at St. James' and the boo-boys had stayed at home.

Robert's free-kick was just the spark we needed but to be fair the level of support had been good throughout. It wasn't just the odd one or two who felt that we had a genuine fighting chance once we'd got one back, but it seemed as though everyone in Pride Park sensed what was about to happen next. Maybe the linesman just didn't want to get in the way of the inevitable as he gave Solano licence to forge ahead of the Derby defence, twice. Both sets of players and fans felt the tide had turned and as we twanged the Derby woodwork you just knew that we could finish the job.

It was great to see LuaLua get the vital goal and although his celebration must frighten the life out of Derek Wright and Paul Ferris, it was exactly how we all felt and the celebration our side of the hoardings with half a dozen players certainly felt symbolic. In that respect it was like our last away win, at the mackems.

The sun's still shining and the world seems a fantastic place at the moment. We should never have felt as low as the Derby fans currently do but I wonder how far off their feelings of despondency we'd be right now had we stumbled to a defeat on Saturday.

Thank you Laurent Robert, you bone-idle, moody, egotistical bloody genius....


Niall MacKenzie