Barnsley 0-2 Newcastle - Match Reaction

Well, just what isn’t there to love about Newcastle at the minute? A rather convincing win, watched by a 6,000 strong black and white following, saw Newcastle see off Barnsley 0-2 to send themselves top of the league, thanks to Fulham and Norwich playing out 2-all draws. In what was quite an even game, two flashes of quality saw two away goals fly in and, as even as the game may have been, it’s fair to say the better side took home the three points.

Possession of the ball was just about a 50:50 split, shot figures weren’t too far apart, although Newcastle’s were more favourable and both sides did have their fair share of chances but come the 49th minute, a scrappy scramble in the box saw the ball fall to the inform Dwight Gayle, who 'surprise surprise', clinically put the ball away to put the Toon 1-0 up. On the 68th minute mark, Matt Ritchie then sent over a ball for what turned out to be another sublime assist, allowing Gayle to latch onto the ball and expertly chip the ball over the advancing Barnsley keeper.

The overall team performance was fantastic again, digging in and being up for the game right from the off, continuing our fine vein of form. The likes of Shelvey and Hayden continued to pull the strings in midfield, whist the evermore establishing centre half partnership of Lascelles and Clark was again strong, keeping a clean sheet away from home. Gouffran put his usual shift in, whilst Ritchie caused problems - the balance of the team seemed to be spot on, as were the tactics.

The win gave Newcastle their fourth straight league win, sent them top and saw Gayle continue his fine form, making it 11 for the season and keeping him top of the goal scoring charts. It's fair to say the benchmark is now being set in the league and early indications point towards both ourselves and Norwich being the two teams looking most likely to secure automatic promotion. However, it must be emphasised it is still early days.

Saturday sees us play Ipswich at home, which on paper should be a rather routine win based on the current form of both teams; Ipswich being sat around the mid-table spots. Despite relegation and the inside affairs that we have gotten used to, I wouldn’t be called deluded for saying things are getting up and around to an all-time high for recent years, would I?