Owen Coyle was delighted to see his Blackburn side end Newcastle's nine-game winning run - but the Rovers boss insists it would be wrong to describe the 1-0 away win as a shock.
Charlie Mulgrew's second-half strike condemned the Magpies to their first defeat since mid-September, and lifted the visitors out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone.
Blackburn won just one of their opening nine matches in all competitions this season, but they have taken 11 points from their last seven games and were deserved victors at St James' Park.
Coyle said: "There is a lot of perception in football and people see the table and think Blackburn are a poor team - nothing could be further from the truth.
"We took two points from our first seven games and there was a lot going on at the club. From there after, I think that is now 17 points from 11 games. That is close to play-off form.
"We stuck to the game-plan, we asked them to stand toe to toe, we marked them man for man all over the park. We knew we would have to do a lot of dirty work. (Blackburn goalkeeper) Jason Steele made one wonderful save off (Ciaran) Clark from second phase of a corner. I can't really remember any other saves. I felt we were a threat all day.
"It was important for us off the back of last week's win (3-2 at home to Brentford) to try and start an unbeaten run. Now we have to kick on."