Half time: Magpies 0 Blades 0
 

55 mins Danny Rose took a throw-in deep in his own half down the left, the bounce catching out both Joelinton and an opponent. Matt Ritchie ran onto the loose ball and pushed forward along the touchline and towards the Gallowgate End, Chris Basham shadowing but making no challenge.

Miguel Almiron was available on the overlap as Ritchie neared the corner of the Blades area but instead he played a low infield pass across the box that Enda Stevens seemed certain to reach and clear from the penalty spot.

Somehow the Ireland international managed to miss the ball completely, allowing the lurking Allan Saint-Maximin to beat Henderson at his near post with a low right foot shot from the angle of the six yard box. 1-0

69 mins Attempting to attack down the Newcastle right Saint-Maximin ran into a blind alley and checked back half as the ball began to run away from him and Oli McBurnie half-cleared it infield.

Jonjo Shelvey beat Oliver Norwood and Isaac Hayden took possession before slipping it towards Matt Ritchie towards the left. With George Baldock back-pedalling ahead of him, Ritchie strode forward before catching it with his left foot from 22 yards as John Lundstram caught up with him. Goalkeeper Henderson was completely bamboozled by the in-swinging effort. 2-0

78 mins An aimless ball out of defence was headed across the centre circle by McBurnie and fell for Saint-Maximin, who scooped it towards Joelinton .

He took a controlling touch before pushing it out to Almiron his left as former Magpie Basham attempted to intervene. Miggy got into the area and squared the ball for the Joelinton to flick home from close range - a replica of the finish in his side's first post-lockdown kickabout here two weekends earlier.

The scorer hammered the turf with his hand in delight before putting the ball up his shirt and joining new father Jamaal Lascelles in a thumb-sucking celebration. That bairn wasn't conceived when he last scored in the PL! 3-0

Full time: Magpies 3 Blades 0

Steve Bruce said:

"There is no flow to our play which there was in the period leading to the lockdown. It's a double whammy – we are not that fluent and we are making mistakes.

"I think the players need to give themselves a shake. You have to play at a maximum to get a result in this league and we usually have done all season.

"We’re just off the pace at the minute and I can’t put my finger on it.

"They were poor goals from our point of view. We looked a bit sorry for ourselves late on and that’s what disappoints me. We haven’t got a long time and I didn’t enjoy that, and the players understand that as well.

"Players need to give themselves a shake. We have to play at our max to get a result in this division.

“We can’t play at 75 per cent or in second gear, there might be periods when that happens but we have to be full at tilt and haven’t been.

On the sending-off:

"The dynamics of the game completely changed when John (Egan) went off.

"It is a really poor decision. John’s tried to take a quick free kick and the boy’s got hold of the ball, (usually) the referee pushes both players away and gets on with it.

"Me and Steve (Bruce) were astonished that they got yellow cards. The second one was a definite yellow but (the first) is ridiculous, the game hasn’t changed that much and if so it’s in a worse place than it should be.

“Two boys showing a bit of angst against each other, and it wasn’t managed by the referee. Does it play a part in the result? Of course, because we’re a man light and then we give away a poor goal."

Second half strikes from Allan Saint-Maximin, Matt Ritchie and Joelinton gave Steve Bruce the most resounding Premier League victory of his Magpies managerial career on Sunday afternoon.

Newcastle scored three times in front of a deserted Gallowgate End following the 50th minute dismissal of Blade John Egan for a second bookable offence.

The ex-mackem was booked following a first half flare-up with Joelinton and sent off after hauling down the home side's number 9 en route to goal.

Within five minutes an awful defensive rick from Enda Stevens gave Saint Maximin the chance to hammer in his side's first home goal in 325 minutes.

Matt Ritchie then finished to banish his own goal famine before an exchange of passes between Saint-Maximin, Joelinton and Almiron ended with the Brazilian doubling his league tally from close range.

Returning to competitive action after an enforced 106 day break since their 1-0 victory at Southampton, 10 of the 11 fielded at St. Mary's by Newcastle were retained, Joelinton returning at the expense of Dwight Gayle.

The number 9 missed the best chance in the 17th minute of a low-key first half, striding into the opposition box before inexplicably spooning his shot towards goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

At the other end, Chris Wilders side quickly faded after forcing a handful of early dead ball situations; fit-again Martin Dubravka under-employed in recording his third successive clean sheet.

The only time that looked in any doubt was at 1-0, when Billy Sharp got in front of Javier Manquillo and met a right wing cross at the back post, but headed wide.

Victory for the Magpies took them to 38 points, 11 clear of the relegation zone. Initially 12th, a point for Everton against Liverpool on Sunday night left Newcastle in 13th - as they had been after their previous game.

As the manager himself observed, it's typical of this club to go goal crazy when their long-suffering supporters are forced to watch from afar.

The lack of a crowd did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of Saint-Maximin, who began on the left flank but swapped sides with Ritchie after the break, scampering around like he'd never been away.

Those questioning whether his desire to dribble would diluted by the lack of a crowd obviously didn't see lockdown videos of him nutmegging his pooch...

While ASM was deservedly voted man of the match by Sky Sports though, the contribution of Joelinton was a positive one, albeit less high-profile.

Taking up a good position when Almiron made it to the byline after 10 minutes but saw his pullback blocked, things hardly augured well for the number 9 when he supplied a woeful non-finish soon after.

At that point, any notions that Joelinton could prosper playing behind closed doors seemed beyond hopeful; his apparent fear of crowds matched by apprehension when confronted with open spaces....

But clashes with Egan in either half ultimately tipped the numerical balance in our favour and at the risk of being obvious, his close-range finish was only possible because he actually made it into the area for once - and the uncharted territory of the opposition six yard box.

We've celebrated strikers here before for their aerial prowess, long-range shooting ability and various other attributes. £40m (or whatever) seems like a lot to pay for a goal poacher, but conversions from two yards are as precious as those from 22.

Put him in the box, give him the ball and he might just score. Quite why this has taken so long (15 PL home games) beggars belief.

The poorness of the visitors and the sending-off helped make this a good day for Newcastle, but Bruce's side look to have benefited from the enforced break and emerged in rather better nick than they went into it.

The Southampton scoreline masked what was an inept display against ten men for over an hour and a failure to score in any of our four league games before that was hardly a viewing feast. 

At least one of our players may not have "given a f**k" about the nation's morale, but today's game - and outcome - was a boost for supporters who endured a bloody awful few months in their work and home lives, not to mention the ongoing takeover tribulations.

All a bit odd, but it's good to be back.

Biffa

For Flapper.