29 mins Jamaal Lascelles headed the ball clear but inadvertently hit Mo Diame and fell nicely for Jake Livermore who immediately played it to Matt Phillips in space the Albion right. The Scottish international moved into the box and fired firmly past Martin Dubravka at the Gallowgate end.

This was the fourth time that Phillips has faced Newcastle in a Premier League fixture (once for Blackpool, once for QPR, twice for West Brom) and he's yet to finish on the losing side. 0-1

Half time: Magpies 0 Baggies 1

Full time: Magpies 0 Baggies 1

Rafa Benitez:
 

"It was the kind of game you don’t want to see from your team.

"Especially when you are playing to avoid relegation, you don’t want to see these performances, but when you are safe, also you don’t want to see that.

"But sometimes your players are a little bit relaxed, but they were playing with anxiety, but anxiety at this stage of the season when we have done so well is something you cannot understand.

"We made too many mistakes, the wrong decision all the time and that is the reason why we lost the game.

"Everything was wrong from the first minute and when we tried to correct things at half-time, in the second half we were playing too direct, too many crosses without good positions or not the best ones, so we were not winning any second balls.

"We were giving the ball away every single time in easy positions and without too much pressure, so when you play like that, you have to lose.

"We tried to do it, but I'm not happy with our performance on the ball, without the ball. Everything we did in the last few games, we didn't do.

"We wanted to get more points to finish higher in the table, but we didn't do well today, we made a lot of mistakes, and we weren't good enough.

"We didn't think the job was done, but it's a pity because we've had a good season, but we want to finish better, too. I congratulate the players for a good season, but we need to be better than today.

"The target was to stay up, but if we can finish ninth we want to do that."

Darren Moore aka Big Dave said:

"We can't cry over spilt milk.

"What's gone on has gone on and there's nothing we can do. We can talk about ifs and buts - we ain't going to change what's gone on at the start of the season.

"We just look to the next game, and this was a difficult game and we have had to work extremely hard to get a positive result.

"We did everything that was asked of us. We came to a tough arena, against a good team, and we needed to perform well to come away with a result.

"I was pleased with the result, it was a good, solid performance. We could have scored more goals, we had plenty of chances, and after we scored our defence was resolute too.

"We're just continuing to look forward to the next game now, we'll enjoy today, and look forward.

"We are grateful to all the fans who travelled all the way up here to support the team. It’s a huge arena but we heard them up there singing their hearts out.

"Together as a football club, I am proud that we have all been able to pull off another positive result for the football club.

"It’s another good performance. It’s a difficult place to come and Newcastle are a good team. We showed composure, courage and strength in unity which is all the things we needed.

"If anything, we could’ve been two or three goals up at the break. I was delighted with the first half and it was more or less keep going for the second period. 

"We had to be willing to stand up to the Newcastle pressure which we knew would be coming. Everyone did exactly that.

"There was some good resolute defending and the players got their reward for a wonderful performance.”

Newcastle's first home defeat of 2018 came before the players headed to London for a festive celebration that they themselves had put on hold after a series of poor results in December. 

Sadly though, the effects of that came rather earlier than anticipated and were widespread, with a collective hangover evident across the field for most of the afternoon.  
 
Confirmation that they'd mathematically confirmed top-flight status as a consequence of Swansea's defeat in the Saturday night game was certainly cause for the squad to raise a glass or two, but successive 0-1 defeats threaten to make the season go as flat as yesterday's beer.    

For the visitors though, shedding the baggage of messrs Pardew and Carver has seen their spirit levels raised immeasurably, albeit too late to prevent what looks like an inevitable demotion.  

Following the below-par showing at Goodison on Monday, Rafa Benitez reverted to the starting XI that had brought him four successive victories. Back to the bench went Islam Slimani, while Dwight Gayle returned to the side, doubtless hoping to end a ten game run at Gallowgate without a goal. 

However, neither he nor his colleagues ever really got warmed up on what was an unseasonably chilly Tyneside day. United's passing and crossing was distinctly sub-standard and they fell behind to a rare Albion break just before the half hour mark.  

Missing a couple of chances to level - Kenedy striking a post and Ben Foster blocking Gayle's header - United reached the interval trailing and with little encouragement from a referee aware of Gayle's reputation for diving.

Sadly though that period between conceding and going off for half time proved to be a high point in United's performance; the second half an unpleasant reminder of that run of home games in the tail end of 2017 when we looked to have neither the wit or the personnel to make a breakthrough.

Jonjo Shelvey failed to unlock a solid defence while Mo Diame did well in midfield after a sluggish start but wasn't able to cap his display with a goal or assist.

With Albion content to stonewall, United tried different ways to dig themselves out. Kenedy was shifted to left back when Paul Dummett was brought off in favour of Jacob Murphy - who worked down the right as Matt Ritchie switched to the left in the absence of the injured Christian Atsu.

Sadly though that switch that didn't help our cause, with much of our build-up play down the right failing when it reached DeAndre Yedlin. Similarly, the introduction of Slimani and Joselu made no difference; the Algerian more accurate when kicking an opponent than the ball and the German Spaniard putting one good chance well wide. 

And when United did build up some momentum, Craig Dawson continually went to ground only to miraculously recover without treatment - more weak work from referee Coote indulging the visiting player and failing to adequately compensate their time-wasting antics with four added minutes. 

Had it been longer though, it probably wouldn't have helped on a day when United never looked like scoring and those present were grateful for the final whistle.

The Magpies held on to tenth, still with a good chance of a top half finish, but on a day that rivals Leicester shipped five goals at Palace, a big chance to finish above the Foxes was spurned.

Three games remain and there's a real risk of the season drifting to a conclusion, due to a lack of urgency. It's a case of job done but not yet complete - we're not quite ready for beach time yet and neither is the manager.

Top of the list has to be goals; joint top scorers Gayle and Perez managing a measly five each in the league, a total harking back to the great days of 1980/81 and Bobby Shinton's magnificent seven. 

It's only the combined efforts of the present squad at both ends of the pitch that have made the scoring run of Aleksandar Mitrovic at Fulham of minimal importance to us. Were we still to be in the danger zone, then his Championship exploits wouldn't be quite so amusing.

Hopefully we're capable of striking lucrative deals for him and Gayle, as the failed experiment that is Slimani returns to Leicester. Joselu meanwhile can go where he likes, moving on for what would be an eighth consecutive summer, job done here as a stop gap but surely nothing more.

There's plenty of other work though: settling the futures of Dubravka and Kenedy, getting both the captain and manager to put pen to paper, moving on significant numbers of players and overseeing a large scale revamp of the academy and reserves. 

If this week has done anything, it's perhaps provided a dose of reality and a timely reminder that while our immediate objective has been achieved, but the work of improving the squad (and club) into one that is of genuine Premier League standard still lies ahead. 

Our most difficult opponent this season was never going to be Klopp, Pochettino or Guardiola, but Ashley. If Rafa can get a result from that particular fixture, then we'll all have a party.

Niall/Biffa