First half highlights for some

Half time: Eagles 0 Magpies 0

88 mins Joelinton gained possession on the Newcastle right level with the halfway line and his cushioned header took the ball clear of substitute Jairo Riedewald - a flick of his boot then clearing two approaching opponents.  

That reached Callum Wilson and he allowed the ball to bounce before clipping it over the head of Scott Dann. Joelinton had moved forward and superbly took that pass on his chest, sprinting forward before laying off a perfect pass to Wilson on his right.

Inside the box, United's top scorer took a touch with his right foot as Patrick van Aanholt vainly attempted to recover, slipping a left footed shot from seven yards through the legs of Guaita at the Whitehorse Lane end. 1-0

89 mins The roles were reversed just 99 seconds later, as Wilson set up Joelinton for United's second goal.

The move began with Jonjo Shelvey striding out his own penalty area to cut out a hopeful ball in from Ezee. The Newcastle Captain played a short pass to Wilson, who turned and supplied a superb ball between two defenders to the unmarked Joelinton on the United right.  

He continued his forward run into the Palace box and after feinting right, cut back inside to open up a glorious shooting chance from about 12 yards out.

Unfortunately/fortunately the Brazilian scuffed his left-footed effort - but rather than rolling harmlessly through to Guaita it clipped the heel of Gary Cahill and ended up in the back of the net.

The cliché about him needing one to just go in off someone's backside sprang to mind, but whether that opens the floodgates is another matter.

Regardless of that, the scorer's relief was evident as he indulged in a celebratory knee slide and shirt over the head routine adjacent to what would have been a seething mass of humanity in the away end (except from those who had made an early dart for the train of course) 2-0

I knew that celebration looked familiar
 

Full time: Eagles 0 Magpies 2

Steve specifies his celebratory Selhurst Subway selection. Probably.

Woy Hodgson said: 

"All defeats hurt and this one did as we didn't play well. I didn't think we were going to lose; I didn't think we would win it either. So to lose it is a bitter blow. Congratulations to Newcastle on winning it.

"I would credit the whole Newcastle team. The keeper played his part but I think it is too simplistic to say we didn't win because of their goalkeeper. We didn't create enough.

"I thought we played better against Burnley probably than we did tonight in actual fact but I still think it's a bit harsh the defeat because of the two goals.

"The second goal, in particular, was an addendum really. It was the first goal in the 88th minute that killed us because that was the goal that took any possibility of a point from the game from us.

"As a result, we'll have to come over that, analyse that, deal with it and try and make certain that we get back on track and play the sort of football we know we're capable of playing when we play West Brom next Sunday.

"We believe very strongly in the players, we see them every day in training and we believe that there is a lot of quality in our team. In the last two games, over the 180 minutes, we haven’t produced that quality often enough. We haven’t asked enough questions about our two opponents, both of whom who are in the same ballpark in the league as we are.

“It would be hard enough if the two defeats had come against the top two teams, but to lose six points in that way against these two teams – two teams that we know are going to be fighting with us to make certain that their league status is secured at the end of the season, makes it a little bit harder to take.

"Am I frustrated with the players? Not really, in the sense that I don’t doubt for one minute that they’re all doing their very best. I don’t think there was any lack of effort on our part.

“If anything, you could argue, putting so many attacking players on the field could have been a part of us conceding the 88th minute goal which actually cost us the game.

"I think we were right to go for it; we were right to put the extra attackers on and try to win the game because in the second half we were looking like the side most likely to score the goal.”

Having taken four points from their first two visits to London this season, Newcastle enjoyed further capital gains at Selhurst Park on Friday night.

For the majority of the game, it looked as if Steve Bruce's side would have to be content with ending a losing run and registering their first PL clean sheet since the opening weekend of the season.

Strike pair Callum Wilson and Joelinton had other ideas though; United's top scorer taking a pass from his colleague on 88 minutes and planting the ball through the legs of Eagles 'keeper Vincente Guaita.

Barely 60 seconds later and Wilson had returned the favour, combining with the Brazilian who shot weakly on goal - only for his effort to brush off defender Gary Cahill and end up in the Palace net.

Our initial thoughts were that it would go down as an own goal, partly due to doubts as to whether the original shot would actually reach the goal line.

Further viewings though brought to mind a similarly sedate strike from Mick Harford at Luton more years ago than we care to recall (actually 1981).

While the front duo in what was a 4-4-2 formation ultimately brought home the bacon for their boss, the foundations of the win came at the other end.

Both sides had scoring chances in the first half, but while Joelinton's trio of shots were no threat to Guaita, Karl Darlow was rather more seriously tested by efforts from Eberechi Eze and Jeffrey Schlupp.

And a week after gifting Chelsea their opening goal, Federico Fernandez was at his resolute best - making a couple of well-timed blocks to deny Palace.

United failed to score on either of their last two appearances here and there was little sign of run ending until Wilson's 67th minute header from a Javier Manquillo cross was narrowly off target.

Palace worked the ball into the final third via open play and corner kicks (the latter placed accurately by ex-Toon pair Andros Townsend and Patrick van Aanholt), but struggled with an end product.

The introduction of substitutes by both sides belatedly threatened a possible outbreak of football; Christian Benteke offering a wayward forward threat and Matt Ritchie some semblance of service into the box.

Those two late goals put an unexpected gloss on what was a dreary game - those fans (and Isaac Hayden) complaining that their Amazon Prime signal was dropping out during the first half didn't miss an awful lot.

Had there been more forward options on the bench then either or both of the scorers may not have been on the pitch at the crucial time - but like the absence of Wilfried Zaha for the hosts, fortune does occasionally favour us.

Victory lifted United into tenth spot ahead of fixtures across the next three days and with ten games played this season, our tally of 14 points has only been bettered once in the last decade of top-flight involvement.

That statistic that may be seen as some sort of vindication by the pro-Bruce lobby. Alternatively though, it's a reflection of the consistent downturn in our performance under the current owner. Serial underachievers.

The value of having one goalscorer on the pitch is self-evident; for a Magpies team to contain two would be revelatory and in the Premier League this season, potentially explosive.

That could be giddiness at having seen Joelinton actually put the ball in the net, but fans desperately want to see him succeed and will seize on any positives, even after 16 months and 47 top-flight appearances.

His shooting may have verged on the laughable, but at least tonight he got near enough to the goal to actually attempt to find the net on multiple occasions.

For once a weekend hasn't been spoiled by our favourites and it's nice to be reminded that we can beat average top flight sides, reaping the benefits of playing in the opposition half rather than cowering in our own box.

This attacking lark might just catch on.

Biffa