Newcastle 2-1 Brentford

&c

Eddie Howe's Trophy Winning Mags returned to league action on Wednesday night and showed that there's no Newcastle tradition they're unwilling to break.

This time, fresh from winning a trophy, it was refusing to step on a Brentford-shaped banana skin.

After two and a half weeks of solid celebrations - and I've no doubt that extends to the team, not just the fans - this was one of the trickier home assignments we could have faced, Brentford having reversed their home/away polarity from earlier in the season and now unbeaten since their last trip up here in December, five games ago.

Roared on by a jubilant crowd, Newcastle made a fast start, but the game soon evened out and chances became more sporadic.

Just before half time, a bit of classic Isak trickery almost led to us taking the lead, but he overplayed and instead of shooting, dinked the ball forwards to a just-offside Barnes to nod in.

Barnes turned and gave him both barrels, which surprisingly I've seen criticised in some quarters - for my money he was right to call Isak out, and I think this is the kind of team that will take honest criticism in its stride.

But as in the League Cup final - the one where we beat Liverpool to win the trophy - Isak took personal offence with the disallowed goal, and within a minute had swept home a teasing Jacob Murphy cross.

The game was even, edging towards Brentford having the momentum, after half time, and on 65 minutes Nick Pope brought down Mbuemo in a wide position.

I'm not sure he really had to make the challenge but it was a clear penalty which Mbuemo duly dispatched.

From there it could have gone either way, until Sandro Tonali stepped up with something absolutely outrageous.

Played in by Barnes down the right wing and level with the six yard box, he looked up and drilled in a simply unbelievable shot into the near top corner, stunning Mark Flekken and 50,000 Geordies.

He later said it was "70% cross, 30% shot", making this 30% one of the best goals I've ever seen.

I've always thought Tonali was quietly world class, but that's just not true.

He's screaming it from the rooftops.

There was still time for some late heart-in-mouth hijinks, but we held out for a hugely important win that kept us in 5th.

The congested nature of the table means it's easy to see Villas win at Brighton as either good or bad - I'm leaning towards good, though a draw would probably have been ideal.

But at this stage of the season, we've just got to look after our own results, and the performances are largely irrelevant.

The early withdrawal of both Trippier and Isak with groin complaints is cause for concern, but with a trip to whipping boys Leicester on Monday, you have to hope we can take another big step forward and keep focussed on upgrading our Europa Conference League place to something loftier.

Man of the match: Tonali, with honourable mention to the superb deputy left back Livramento.