As a one-two Primal Scream’s Movin’ On Up and Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up blasted from the stadium PA at the final whistle, St James’ Park felt like an entirely different place compared to Steve McClaren’s final game against Bournemouth at the start of March, where the place was as toxic as the worst days of Pardew, Kinnear or Carver. What a difference a couple of months can make.

The sell-out crowd had responded to recent spirited performances against Liverpool, Man City and Swansea to remind people — Alan Pardew and Yohan Cabaye to name a couple — what a formidable place St James’ Park can be to visit, when the crowd is behind their team and manager, in full voice, from the first whistle. Today, the manager and players earned that reception, in the same way the pathetic half-assed strolling about and hapless team selections and substitutions of Steve McClaren warranted a certain level of bile and frustration.

At half-time, to choose standout performers told you everything about what kind of first half it had been; it wasn’t lit up by the creativity of Wijnaldum, Sissoko, Townsend or Cisse, who leaves you wondering exactly just what he offers if he’s not scoring goals. Likewise Cabaye and Puncheon created little —although did link up well to force a decent save from Darlow — while Wickham looked hungry but was feeding on scraps. Bolasie was liveliest for the visitors but was ushered out time and again by the impressive makeshift right-back Vurnon Anita, who dealt with him well at the expense of a few corners, all of which were wasted by Palace.

In midfield it was the combative Jedinak and Tiote that stood out, while Delaney and Dann shut down anything Newcastle attempted to create in their third, leaving Wayne Hennessey with little to do. Mbemba and Lascelles didn’t have the same level of control as their counterparts, yet still performed impressively. Lascelles in particular was the standout player on the pitch, from his perfectly-timed last ditch tackle on Wickham after ten minutes, quashing Palace’s best chance of the half, while his neat footwork and clever ball was dispatched to Jack Colback who should have done better to hit the target on the stroke of half time.

At the break, Nil Nil was a fair reflection of a match that had little going for it. The home crowd had started out in positive voice, eventually petering out to frustration, the loudest shouts reserved for Palace’s bizarre first-half time wasting, languidly switching players around for corner duties. Deliberate or not, it was antagonistic.

Perhaps this was a canny tactic from the opposition manager, intentionally stifling the game to dampen the spirits of the crowd he’s well acquainted with. This was Pardew’s first visit back to Tyneside, and while he might’ve defined the off-pitch narrative, it was his tactical set-up that characterised today’s action.

This was undoubtedly Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace, and indeed still the 2016 edition that have only won a single league game in the calendar year, while rarely being totally outclassed. Like a lot of their recent games, this was one that threatened to be decided by a single moment of quality, as it was when Jason Puncheon struck to beat Norwich a few weeks ago.

Only this time, Pardew’s side were to be on the other end of a 1–0 scoreline, with the moment of quality being Andros Townsend’s peach of a free-kick on the hour, smashed into the side netting from twenty yards. He’d done well to win the free-kick himself, after a positive run — it was something that he’d not done enough earlier on, cutting inside and turning into blind alleys all too often.

This wouldn’t be the only flashpoint of the game, as it was another ex-Newcastle man that’s name would be written in the headlines. After being harangued and booed loudly while taking a corner in front of the boisterous Strawberry Corner, Cabaye obliged them by taking the first dangerous one after a series of benign attempts in the first hour — it had looked to’ve been dealt with until Mike Dean pointed for a spot-kick following Sissoko brushing the ball with his hand. The frenchman stepped up to take a poor penalty, Karl Darlow saving to cap off a decent performance and a better few weeks than anyone could reasonably ask of a third-choice goalkeeper. On today’s evidence, the double signing of Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles in 2015 is looking like a great bit of business — who in the longterm, at the very least, are solid additions to the squad, and in the present will surely be keeping out club captain Coloccini.

Benitez had been pro-active and brought on Perez and Mitrovic late-on to stretch the game and create a little more potential from the counter attack, where they came close to doubling their lead. Given the circumstances — and chatter of a Sunderland equaliser at the Brittania — you can forgive a certain amount of nerves from the crowd, but it was seldom transmitted onto the pitch where Palace looked like they’d scuffed their only chance of scoring and created little.

Newcastle are out of the bottom three, with it still out of their hands, but with the fight and composure under pressure they showed today, they’ll give themselves a real chance in what will be meaningless games for Villa and Spurs. Palace are surely safe, albeit still not mathematically, and can probably afford for this slump to continue until the end of the season — Adebayor and Gayle did little when subbed on, and you’d think neither will be appearing again next season, while Wickham will need to build on his potential to get a respectable goals tally next time around. Palace need to add goals next season to avoid the drop, whilst Newcastle will need more of the same, plus a little luck elsewhere.

Man of the match: Jamaal Lascelles