Second half goals from Fabian Schar and Callum Wilson rounded off a dominant Newcastle display on Saturday, as they hit the ground running on the opening day of the season.

Beaten just once here in the Premier League this year, United set about their newly-promoted visitors from the first whistle and scarcely let up before the breakthrough came just before the hour.

There seemed little immediate danger when Schar took the ball on the United right, embarking on a run that took him towards the area before hammering the ball past a helpless Dean Henderson and into the Leazes End net.

The destination of the points was then put beyond any doubt 12 minutes from full time, when Joelinton centred from the left and Wilson conjured up a sublime flick to beat the goalkeeper from the edge of the six yard box.

A buoyant home crowd saluted both exceptional goals, on a day when the feeling of anticipation sadly absent from Gallowgate for too long returned in force - and for once proved to be well-founded.

The one way traffic of the first half didn't initially lead to goal efforts; over half an hour on the clock before the Forest defence opened up in front of Joelinton and he crashed his shot just wide. At the other end meanwhile, a rare raid from the away side was foiled by Schar's perfectly-timed block.

Once the deadlock was broken though, further goals looked like following and Steve Cooper's side could easily have ended up shipping three or four. Chief in the frustration stakes was Miguel Almiron, whose work rate was enviable but whose end product and reluctance to use his right foot jarred.

Bruno was simply outstanding however; a joy to watch. Equally encouraging to these eyes at least was what threatened to be a mature performance from Saint-Maximin, replacing the histrionics and tumbles with something that looked remarkably like team play.

10 of the home starting line-up played a part in last season's remarkable resurgence, and the qualities they exhibited then were thankfully there in abundance today.

Their commitment and relentless determination to win gave the opponents virtually no chance of achieving one of those victories that promoted teams periodically introduce themselves with.

It's not just about team spirit though: we even look different to last year; fitness levels seemingly an immediate dividend of a pre-season that was rather less random and chaotic than usual. 

While efforts to improve the squad continue, the continuity shown by those in situ was encouraging, not to mention the way they set about their task - that much-repeated line about demanding a team that tries came to mind several times as possession was lost then regained.

In stark contrast to our default starting position, today could hardly have gone better, albeit against a club who at this point are some way short of having a team. Six of Forest's 13 summer signings to date were in their starting line-up, with their two costliest additions coming off the bench.

Three points in the August sunshine then: in stark contrast to the delight that finally came our way in early December last year at the fifteenth attempt.

Today felt like another staging post on the way to somewhere positive, a welcome reminder that this is all meant to be an entertainment rather than the joyless commitment that it became for so long. 

Three generations of support: a winning start to life at SJP for
debutant James Greaves, joined by his dad, uncle and Grandad.