Burnley 1-3 Newcastle

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Newcastle ended the year with a rare and much needed away victory at Burnley on Tuesday night to briefly lift themselves into the top half.

The New Year's Eve results will shift us back down, but frustratingly we're left reflecting on points dropped from winning positions this season as the table is still so compressed.

Had we even beaten Man United in the last game - who were very much there for the taking - we'd have been a solitary point off fifth-placed Chelsea.

As it is, we can count ourselves fortunate to have taken three points at Turf Moor tonight, as we took the Newcastle trope of "take an early lead, sit back" to perilous new heights.

After a 70 second Joelinton hooked volley was added to by Wissa after an almighty goalmouth scramble in the seventh minute, we looked on course for another Everton-style comfortable away win.

And we did continue to press for a third for a little while, but by the time Laurent hit home a sweet volley in the 23rd minute we'd already started inviting more and more pressure.

An entertaining and fairly even game at half time, with plenty of chances at both ends, the second half was a depressingly familiar story.

Against 19th-placed Burnley, without a win in eight, we parked 11 men behind the ball and invited them to attack us at will, with barely an attempt to work the ball out and the infuriatingly trademark sloppy passing back on display in full force.

Thankfully, Burnley are absolutely rank, though they were unlucky not to score again, the returning Nick Pope clawing away a looping goalbound cross from under the bar and making another good save down to his left, before watching a header loop over him only bounce down off the underside of the bar.

Schar also made a crucial goalline clearance, while at the other end Thiaw similarly saw a header cleared off the line.

In a case for the defence of our tactics, we did appear to come out of our shells in the last ten minutes and venture forwards again, and this bore fruit in stoppage time as ex-Mag Martin Dubravka made a comedy error, stumbling out of his box and passing the ball straight to Bruno, who chipped home from 30 yards to seal a vital win for Eddie Howe's beleaguered Mags.

As the final whistle blew, Newcastle fans were singing "Martin Dubravka, he's one of our own", but for those in Black and White tonight there was plenty to ponder, not least the continuing abject performances of Gordon on the left wing, to the detriment of Barnes who was shoehorned into the right wing, and a potential ankle injury for Hall.

To end on the positives though - an away win, a goal for Wissa on his first start, and maybe even the opportunity to bolster the squad as we go into a crucial looking January.

All the best for 2026.