Referee Andre Marriner's decision not to award a penalty to the Magpies when Seamus Coleman hacked down Kevin Nolan had the Toon Army roaring their anger.
The penalty should have been given and Coleman should have been sent off.
Mike Williamson: “It’s gone now.
“We’ll take the positives. We had a clean sheet, and I thought we had a stonewall penalty.
“It’s a great away performance.
“The only reason I can see is that he’d have had to make a decision to send him off, and he didn’t want to do that. It’s gone now.
“The referee’s a human being just like anyone, and he can make mistakes.
“We got the three points, which is all that matters.
“It’s a massive result for us. They’ve had a slow start, but they’re a great team. They’ve got talent and good spirit – you can see that.
“It’s a difficult place to come any time.
“We knew, coming here, they were going to create chances, which is what they did.
“We had the rub of the green, but we all dug in and showed our character.
"Steve Harper will be a big loss.
"Week-in, week-out, he gives a great performance. That’s where our strength in depth comes in – we’ve got a brilliant keeper in Tim. He came on and commanded the back four.”