Wimpering Wolves! Newcastle 4-1 Wolves.

Newcastle finally managed to end a couple of dismal runs this afternoon as they put Mick McCarthy's Wolves side to sword.

In a match where I think most fans would have taken a nervy 1-0 win, it was Newcastle who pretty much dominated the game and got the reward they deserved as they ran out 4-1 victors at St James' Park - the first Saturday, 3pm win at home since August 2008.

It also signals the end of a run of form which had seen us being dragged perilously close to the drop zone after not having won a match since the start of January and leaves us sitting in the top half of the table, above Sunderland who go to Manchester City tomorrow.

With injuries stacking up and a lack of form the mood amongst the fans was pensive to say the least. It's a completely different mood now though and whilst the relegation concerns aren't over yet this result signifies a huge leap towards Premier League safety.

it was a day for those who have their fair amount of knockers ( 😆 ) to step forward and ram some of those words of criticism back down the throats (or keyboards) from whence they came. Danny Guthrie played well and had a solid game in the middle of the park and even James Perch had his uses when he replaced an injured Shane Ferguson. The praise shouldn't stop there though.

The whole team started brightly to be fair and didn't look like a side that was going through such a poor run of form. Newcastle zipped the ball about smartly without really creating too much but also without giving Wolves a sniff of Steve Harper's goal.

All the neat play didn't really matter though as the home side took the lead on on 23 minutes through the often criticised Kevin Nolan. No cleverness was needed as Shola Ameobi flicked on Mike Williamson's long punt up field for Nolan who charged through an indecisive Wolves defence to slot past Wayne Hennessey for his 12th goal of the season.

That goal settled any nerves that the Newcastle players had as they took the game by the scruff of the neck. Wolves were so awful that they were forced into a tactical reshuffle in the hope of trying to change their fortunes. Sylan Ebanks-Blake forced a fine save from Harper but that was about the extent of the visitors attacking play in the first half.

That wasn't the case for Newcastle though who made it 2-0 on the stroke of half time through Shola Ameobi. Peter Lovenkrands crossed the ball to the far post for the masked, and again often criticised, Ameobi to head home. A fine way to end the half indeed.

Newcastle came flying out of the block at the start of the second half and could have extended their lead through Joey Barton and Peter Lovenkrands had the Wolves goalkeeper and the woodwork not had something to say about it. It wasn't long before the ball was in the back of the net though, but the credit for that goal must go to Fabricio Coloccini.

Coloccini skilfully took the ball past two Wolves midfielders before sliding the ball through to Joey Barton on the right. Barton then delivered an inch perfect square ball for an unmarked, and much criticised, Peter Lovenkrands giving him the simplest task of knocking the ball past Wayne Hennessey. It was Colo who received the praise and adulation from his colleagues, and rightly so. Game over.

Or was it? Wolves did try and get back into the game and even got a goal back through Sylan Ebanks-Blake before applying some more pressure to try and reduce the 3-1 deficit, but despite them having the bulk of the play for fifteen or so minutes and going close, really close, to making it 3-2 through Stephen Fletcher they were unable to capitalise on a rare spell of dominance.

Newcastle put the icing on the cake with a fourth goal in injury time as Steven Taylor ran the ball out of defence and passed to the much criticised Jonas Gutierrez who ran in on goal and unleashed a 20-yard angled drive past Wayne Hennessey to round off the victory in style.

It's been a tough time for Newcastle United and the fans, but we need to stick together. We can bemoan the standard of player that we have at our disposal until we're blue in the face, but it won't change anything. Eleven world beaters won't suddenly emerge from the tunnel.

That can change in the summer of course, but first we need to get to the summer and ensure that we are a Premier League team. We're not there yet, but today was a massive step towards it. The questions were starting to mount up, and today they were answered.

They aren't the most gifted team that we've ever seen, but they are good enough to get us those final few points that we need to take us over the line. Then, in the summer, we can regroup and improve the team.

That's getting ahead of ourselves though. Today should be about the performance and the result against Wolves. It was billed to be our biggest test of the season, and those lads, from manager downwards, passed it with flying colours.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Shane Ferguson, Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan, Danny Guthrie, Jonas Gutierrez, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi.

Subs: Tim Krul, James Tavernier, James Perch, Sol Campbell, Steven Taylor, Nile Ranger, Shefki Kuqi.

Wolves: Wayne Hennessey, Kevin Foley, Richard Stearman, Christophe Berra, George Elokobi, Adam Hammill, Nenad Milijas, Karl Henry, Jamie O’Hara, Matt Jarvis, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

Subs: Marcus Hahnemann, Jody Craddock, Michael Mancienne, David Jones, Michael Kightly, Stephen Ward, Steven Fletcher.

Referee: Mike Dean.

Attendance: 49,939.