United returned to the top of the table as a result of this victory, on what was ultimately a very happy Monday indeed for Rafa Benitez and his side.

The performance may not have been a classic - while a recurrence of Dwight Gayle's hamstring issues gave cause for concern - but the comedy provided by Villa was absolutely priceless.

Visiting manager Steve Bruce had urged Henri Lansbury to enjoy the abuse from home fans following his cheating antics when playing against us for Nottingham Forest earlier this season. 

But the ex-mackem boss - whose red and white past was loudly referenced by home fans - couldn't possibly have foreseen that Lansbury would become the toast of Tyneside, memorably registering an own goal to seal victory for the home side.

Schadenfreude, revenge, karma, come-uppance, call it what you like, this was beyond satisfying - and infinitely preferable to seeing the preening twit either sent off or carried off.    

Lansbury's 59th minute effort made it 2-0 to the home side, after Yoan Gouffran's seventh goal of the season had given United an interval lead that they never really looked like surrendering.

Naming nine of the side that started at Norwich, Benitez added Mo Diame and Dwight Gayle in place of Ayoze Perez and Alesksandar Mitrovic. However the Serbian would make his entrance barely half an hour into the game, replacing Gayle after he suffered a recurrence of his hamstring problems. 

The Magpies had struggled to fashion anything in the way of scoring chances and Villa had come closest to an opener, Karl Darlow beating away a deflected cross by Jonathan Kodjia.

In keeping with much of what preceded it, Gouffran's goal was a messy affair - finding the Leazes net from close range after a scramble in the box following a 42nd minute corner.

Lascelles was also involved in our second, side-footing Shelvey's corner goalwards for Lansbury obligingly helped it over the line.  The cheers that greeted the announcement of his OG were huge - and as were choruses of "One Henri Lansbury" replacing, "Henri Lansbury is a w*nker".

Darlow made a fine stop from Birkir Bjarnason to keep it at 2-0 but there were no more second half scares as United coasted home, Matt Ritchie and Jack Colback both close to adding a third.

Villa were reduced to ten men for the six minutes of added time when Scott Hogan's ankle crumpled beneath him with all three subs already used, but the game was already well won by that stage.

With Gayle joining Hayden on the sidelines, there was a measure of satisfaction (and relief) at seeing both Colback and Mitrovic supply confidence-boosting performances here, both showing much-needed discipline and composure.

The reaction to the flags and banner-led call to arms was also encouraging, inspiring some of those within the ground and improving the atmosphere immeasurably from the last weeknight home game, against QPR. Having said that, the absence of a breakthrough in the first half did cause noise levels to dip - despite the continuing Rafa chants from the Strawberry Corner.

It's difficult to gauge how important these visible shows of support of the team in general and the manager in particular are, but after doubts arose in January over our future direction they seem both significant and opportune.  

The presence of Benitez in the dugout gives this club credence and maintains a level of interest in us overseas that a second tier football club has no right to expect. If there's a genuine desire to progress, then he gives us colossal advantage when it comes to profile raising and opportunities to increase our commercial worth. For the fans, we just want to see the team perform and achieve something rather better than striving for fourth bottom of the top league with a puppet. 

Leading Spanish football newspaper AS carried a report of this match and made specific reference to the new Rafa banner, calling it "a new gesture of admiration", with "new banners to encourage the team and give colour to the stands at St James' Park". Similar flags for messrs Pardew, McClaren - and Carr - remain mysteriously unordered. 

As for that United banner, there's no more visible affirmation of the unity that currently exists - its presence in the ground at all proof of a more enlightened attitude at SJP. It seems a far cry from "Cockney Mafia Out", but parallels between Keegan and Benitez can still be drawn all too easily.  

The biggest battles this season may yet be off the pitch.

Biffa