Following a trio of demoralising pre-Christmas defeats, Newcastle's final game of 2021 saw them revive to such an extent that even hostile elements of the media conceded that they'd deserved three points rather than just one. 

The much-prized and unlikely victory that a diluted but composed side deserved eluded Eddie Howe's side, but there was much to warm a partisan holiday crowd under the lights on a chilly Tyneside night. 

Whether by accident or design, the Magpies side that took to field after injury, illness and suspension succeeded in achieving the elusive balance between attack and defence - and crucially discovered some much-needed resilience in midfield.

That latter attribute was aided in part by one of Jonjo Shelvey's "brain in gear" games, plus the sort of committed display that we worried was no longer in Sean Longstaff's locker. Completing that triumvirate of wise men though was Joelinton - now truly a star rising in the North East, having prospered to an unheralded degree in left midfield. He was colossal.

As ever though with this club, the negatives weren't far behind the positives: a wonderful opening goal but a failure to double the advantage leading to the feared moment of defensive inadequacy, due in part to a cobbled together backline including two right backs. And worse still, extending past tonight's battle were further onfield casualties in the shape of the entire front three of Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin and Ryan Fraser leaving the field with ailments of varying severity.

Wilson's enforced withdrawal and the lack of a parallel replacement on the bench (Howe echoing Steve Bruce in not believing Dwight Gayle can play there) resulted in the hosts allowing the visitors to initiate attacks with less interference: Saint-Maximin unable to emulate the solo press.

Despite that though, they more than held their own all night against a Red Devils side who looked ill-prepared after a 16 day break following a COVID outbreak among staff and players that had closed their training ground.

Saint-Maximin's fine opener set the tone and Shelvey came close to a second before Wilson poked home a disallowed effort. Chances continued to appear for the black and whites in the second half; none more so than early on when Saint-Maximin could only direct a first-time shot at De Gea from close range with the goal seemingly gaping.

Fraser then took advantage of a marvellous Joelinton run and threaded pass but tried in vain to beat De Gea at his front post. And after Ralf Rangnick's side had scabbed an equaliser, a late raid from Newcastle came agonisingly close to winning it: Jacob Murphy hitting the post and fellow substitute Miguel Almiron bringing the save of the game out of De Gea from the rebound.

Dubravka dropped the ball during six minutes of added time but got away with his mistake and Joelinton claimed a penalty when his shot hit an arm, although VAR showed the contact was outside the area.

The full time whistle brought mixed feelings: yet another game when one point should have been three, but satisfaction in having gone toe to toe with illustrious opponents, given them a game and emerged with some reward.

The stark reality is that failing to win here increases the probability of our relegation, but you'd have to go a long way to encounter despondency round these parts tonight. Call it pride, defiance or realism, people are on board with whatever this "project" is; responding to what looks to be an effort to repair the damage done by haphazard stewardship of club and squad alike.

Having bought the tickets, waved the flags and sung the songs, those fans now wait to see whether the new owners respond to the emerging situation with affirmative action in the transfer market next month. Having just about got away with the Emery/Howe issue early in their reign on a goodwill basis, not doing so risks ending the honeymoon period abruptedly. 

If a striker wasn't on the shopping list before though, it has to be now; although it's hard to believe that Howe would ignore his own previous experience of managing Wilson and his SJP medical file, and believe that he would have stayed fit.

Although it's tempting to go down the route of planning for the 2022/23 Championship XI, our opinion remains that this season is salvageable and there are three teams we can finish above.

Failing to bolster the squad in the areas that are required wouldn't be a complete shock given what players have to buy into in order to sign here - but managing the message better than in previous seasons might mitigate the disappointment.  Rearranging the words, "line over the couldn't it get" really wouldn't be a good idea for a press release or press conference soundbite on February 2nd....

PS: While writing this report, confirmation came that the Premier League had granted Newcastle's request to postpone their next game away at Everton on December 30th, which raises the possibility of the visit to Southampton three days later suffering a similar fate.

That has to be a positive given our dwindling resources, also balancing out what was becoming a significant disparity between the games played by sides towards the bottom end of the table. It does of course allow for the game (or games) to be played with the benefit of incoming transfers.

Biffa