The magical night NUFC fans won’t forget as the North’s sleeping giant wakes up in Southampton

I remember when Southampton were a bit of a bogey team for us, and we got thrashed 4-0 at St Mary’s a couple of seasons in a row.

It’s now becoming something of an iconic away trip. It was our last outing before COVID halted football for over three months, and this time around, it’s cemented Newcastle United’s Premier League status.

No, not mathematically. But it was the game that settled many nerves after another hard-fought win.

Prior to the game, we were on an unbeaten run, having won five of six. We were going to the ground of the team with the second-best home record in the league this season – until the mags came marching in – as Southampton had only lost one on home turf.

We knew it was going to be one of our toughest tests even with our renewed vigour. I must admit though, I did have confidence in Eddie to get the lads riled up and ready to laugh in Hasenhuttl’s face.

And laugh we did.

It was another instance of winning ugly. Southampton dominated for large portions of the game. We looked a touch shakier than against Brighton and Dubravka had more work to do. They’ve got some tricky attacking players who did run us a bit ragged.

Their first goal was a sucker punch, but they deserved it. They looked lively after scoring, and the Newcastle United of old would have crumbled. But this reinvigorated United certainly didn’t.

It was written in the stars that some of our newbies were going to score, and I’m delighted Wood was one of them. He’s gotten a lot of criticism for not yet scoring, but I’ve said in previous posts that he still contributes immense amounts to the team. He’s played a part in multiple goals, but it’s great to see one against his name.

Bruno’s was exactly the type of goal you’d expect from a player of that calibre and with that much hype around him. It was the type of goal you had to watch over and over again not only because it was stunning, but because you had to make sure it really happened that way.

Big shoutout to my man big Dan Burn for providing the assist. I love Lee Ryder’s 10/10 summary of his performance: “if it moved, he headed it clear”. And I’ve long been a fan of an Isaac Hayden slide tackle, but Dan Burn’s might be even better.

Plus, it’s class to see a massive, passionate Geordie, who also happens to be unreal at football, give it his everything in a Newcastle United shirt.

We’re now as close to Europe as we are to the relegation zone – something I absolutely didn’t think I’d be saying at any point during this season. The threat of relegation feels like a distant memory when, not so long ago, it felt like an inevitability.

We’ve gone on our longest unbeaten run since the 2011; the halcyon days when we last qualified for Europe. Southampton completed double the number of passes we did. And although there were more than a few squeaky *** moments, we were resolute.

We’ve seen it all so far under Howe. We’ve played pretty but not won. We’ve won beautifully. We’ve won ugly. But the progression from not winning to barely being able to stop winning is a welcome one.

I hope – and I’m confident – that we’ll see more attractive football again soon. But considering we never ground out results like this under previous management, give me an ugly win any day.

This is probably the most united we’ve seen a group of players and staff in a long time. Rafa and Chris Hughton brought disparate teams together in their respective Championship seasons, but Ashley was always waiting in the wings to steam in and bulldoze the team spirit. With our owners onside and actively contributing to this togetherness, I can see it continuing in the long term this time.

I think we’ll remember this win at Southampton for a long time and, dare I say it, I think we can take something from Chelsea on Sunday!