Two goals in the opening seven minutes proved just enough for Newcastle to end Hull's unbeaten top flight return at St. James' Park on Saturday - although Matthias Jaissle's side were grateful on some desperate defending in the end.

The Tigers arrived at Gallowgate having never lost there in three previous Premier League visits and enjoying early season form that suggested they would be a handful.

However, the blue-clad visitors had barely crossed the halfway line before Joe Willock and Lewis Hall had taken passes from Harvey Barnes to net at the Leazes End - a perfect antidote to events at Elland Road on Monday.

United then survived a couple of self-inflicted scares caused by over-playing towards their own goal, but when Sorba Thomas pulled Jacob Murphy over just before half time to conceded a penalty kick, a first Premier League home win in three attempts this season looked inevitable.

Yoane Wissa's tentative effort from 12 yards was saved by goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis though and when the third goal of the game did arrive midway through the second period, newly-arrived substitute Mohamed-Ali Cho's effort gave Hull hope and ensured a nervous finale.

For all their pressure however, Hull only rarely managed to hit the target with their shots, desperate blocks and last-ditch defending somehow keeping the visitors at bay.

That effort was exemplified by the contribution of Willock, who took his goal well and led by example until replaced late on, by which time he looked absolutely spent.

A first start for Matias Fernandez-Pardo meanwhile didn't really resolve what we've acquired: his major contributions coming when out of possession and using his searing pace to chase down and harry opponents. The absence of a genuine forward presence in the box currently is noticeable - having started to sling crosses over, we really do need to get someone on the end of them.

Although just four of the players who started our last PL home win against West Ham in May kept their places today - messrs Hall, Botman, Thiaw and Barnes - much of what went on here harked back to home games in the latter part of the Eddie Howe era.

Our continued inability to shut down games and keep a clean sheet was repeated here; a goal for the visitors coming as Newcastle's ambitions or fitness levels saw them drop deeper. That served only to highlight our sloppiness in possession, losing the ball nearer to our own goal increasingly dangerous. 

Happily this was one of those days when the back line somehow wasn't breached again and the team saw it through to the final whistle, which sounded amid great relief on and off the field.

It might not have been pretty, but it was effective; post-match scenes of celebration from younger and more experienced players alike a welcome sign of unity emerging in a refashioned squad further disrupted by a considerable list of absentees.

They may not have been mauled or pecked by the Magpies for the greater part of the game, but the Tigers leaving Tyneside pointless avoided the inevitable post-mortem about this version of NUFC that would have doubtless extended through the elongated international break.