Wijnaldum to the four for Magpies

THIS, you see, is why they keep coming. This is why the temptation to stay away, to turn their backs on their ailing football club, never quite wins. They continue to trudge to St James’ Park because they hope that something like this may just happen again. And when it does, who on earth would want to miss it? OK, so this was only a victory against Norwich, but the context of this victory is what is important. It is so long since Newcastle have presented their fans with something like this. This was, as it happens, a performance riddled with frailty. As they led 3-2 in the first half, manager Steve McClaren actually looked quite worried and he had every right to be. His team’s defending was terrifyingly bad. At that stage it still looked as though anything could happen. Ultimately, though, his side were not to be denied. They withstood early pressure in the second period to break and score two goals in two minutes that were hauled straight from black and white folklore. Certainly the names are different these days. Georginio Wijnaldum and Aleksander Mitrovic do not sound much like Alan Shearer and Jackie Milburn. The goals, though, were thoroughly and thrillingly recognisable — a crashing volley and a towering header — the type of goals that bring people to their feet and make foundations shake as far away as Grainger Street. The scoring started when Moussa Sissoko dummied to shoot twice on the edge of the penalty area before playing Wijnaldum in for the first of his four goals. Norwich’s Robbie Brady struck a post from distance and then, in the 20th-minute, played Martin Olsson down the left and his cross was vollyed past Rob Elliot by Dieumerci Mbokani. A quick exchange of goals that set the tone for the game. Newcastle responded by scoring twice in a few minutes as Sissoko crossed cutely for Wijnaldum (right) to head beneath John Ruddy and then drove the length of the field to feed Ayoze Perez, who scored with his right foot after his first shot had come back to him. The last time Newcastle had a two-goal lead, against Chelsea three weeks previously, they couldn’t hold it. So no wonder McClaren looked rather tense when Olsson ran in to more space to cross deep for Nathan Redmond to volley home powerfully at the far post. A header from Sebastien Bassong that was cleared off the line by Wijnaldum was as close as Norwich came to an equaliser and Newcastle were subsequently able to break spectacularly and kill the game with two uplifting goals. A counter attack saw Sissoko lift a lovely ball in to the path of Mitrovic and the centre forward took one touch on his chest and smashed the ball high past Ruddy with a flash of his right foot. The next goal wasn’t bad either as Daryl Janmaat dashed 50 yards and crossed for Wijnaldum to power home a header for a spectacular hat-trick. It was easy to feel a little sympathy for Norwich, but it was Newcastle’s day and Wijnaldum’s day as he was able to add further garnish with a 20-yard shot near the end that found the corner via a deflection. McClaren will hope this proves to be a foundation for something durable. It will need to be. On the Gallowgate, however, they perhaps didn’t care. This was perfect preparation for what awaits on Sunday. It’s Sunderland away in the Tyne-Wear derby, and Sam Allardyce will no doubt have watched this with some interest.