Have you got your breath back yet?

For those of us fortunate enough to have been in attendance on Saturday lunchtime, it was another of those games that we will collectively look back on with fond memories in the years to come – the final 25 minutes or so saw Eddie’s Mags and the Barrack Road faithful feeding off each other to such an extent that, once Harvey Barnes had drawn us level on 83 minutes, a black and white winner felt inevitable. Proof, if we needed it, that a United and vocal St James’ Park can help us overcome the most hopeless of causes.

For me, however, that on and off pitch togetherness has been missing in action in some of our recent home fixtures – and the first 60-70 minutes of Saturday’s fixture was no different. From my seat in the Gallowgate upper, I couldn’t help but note that Isak’s 6th minute opener was greeted with what equated to a gentle round of applause, and despite having taken the lead in what was effectively a must win fixture in our quest for European football, large parts of the stadium struggled to rouse themselves from their lunchtime slumber for long periods of the game.

Whether it was the early kick off, a lack of time to neck 6 pints of pre-match Neck Oil, or expectation of an easy victory having taken an early lead, St James’ was eerily quiet for large parts of the first 60-70 minutes on Saturday, and collectively we cannot see a repeat of this on Tuesday night as perma-crisis club Everton arrive NE1.

I am confident that there will be a significant ramping up of the atmosphere for the visit of the Scouse Mackems though; Barrack Road under the lights has a completely different feel to a Saturday lunchtime kick off, and the arrival of little arms himself always sees Mags’ pitch side vitriol levels taken up a couple of notches.

Sean Dyche’s men arrive on a club record equalling 12 game winless run; bairns the world over were still penning their Christmas lists when they notched their last league victory (Burnley (a), 2-0) in mid-December, and in Dominic Calvert-Lewin the Toffees attack is ‘spearheaded’ by a player who last troubled the scoresheet on the day the clocks went back at the end of October.

So, an easy 3 points then, surely?

Don’t you believe it. Anyone who has followed Newcastle United Football Club for a prolonged period of time will know that we have historically been the most generous of charity cases for clubs and players in the middle of a slump. Not won in 12 games? Here, have a victory on us. Not scored since God was a boy? Here, have a tap-in…no, actually have two tap-ins. We simply cannot afford revert to type on Tuesday.

Saturday’s 3 points has us right back amongst it in terms of European qualification, and with our direct rivals for a top 6-7 spot (Man Utd, West Ham & Brighton) all having tricky fixtures this week, Tuesday presents as opportunity for us to narrow the gap on Man Utd to only two points ahead of their visit to Stamford Bridge on Thursday. And some said our season was finished?

Given recent events, our starting line-up will likely be dictated by taking a roll call of players who have two functioning anterior cruciate ligaments – I can, hand on heart, say that in 40 match-going years I have never experienced a season like this one when it comes to injuries and suspensions – but on the evidence of Saturday the (justifiable) external clamour for Howe to start Barnes, Anderson, and Hall will be deafening.

To me, it is inconceivable that Barnes and Hall don’t start, particularly when you consider the fact that Burn will undoubtedly start at left centre back and Antony Gordon will miss out through suspension thanks to the grassing Kurt Zouma (gloves in the St James’ sun at the end of March? Get in the bin you cat kicking prick).

I suspect Anderson is less likely to have forced his way into the starting lineup because I just cannot see Eddie Howe not selecting Sean Longstaff – if, as expected, he isn’t selected ahead of a clearly knackered Longstaff after his proactive, forward thinking 25 minute cameo on Saturday I can only conclude that Sean is in possession of photos of our manager that he wouldn’t want to be released into the public domain.

Two home games in four days following a two-week break presented us with the chance to reignite our season, and as it stands, we’re 50% there. Let’s not be found wanting on, or off, the pitch.

HWTFL!

Lee Forster @LeeDForster