Rafael Benitez''s men went into the weekend six points adrift of safety, but emerged having rekindled their hopes of pulling off a great escape after derby rivals and fellow relegation candidates Sunderland did both a favour by winning at Norwich before the Magpies secured a 3-0 home victory over Swansea.
The likelihood is still that two of the three clubs which currently occupy 17th, 18th and 19th places in the table will join relegated Aston Villa in next season''s Sky Bet Championship, but victory over Manchester City - a big ask at the best of times - in their game in hand on the Canaries would lift Newcastle out of the drop zone and increase belief that they can yet rescue themselves.
January signing Townsend played a key role in a crucial win and is now hoping it will provide a springboard for further success.
He told the club''s official website: "It was massively important. The games have been running out and we knew that eventually we had to get three points, and we''ve done that now.
"We''ve got five games left and we''ve got to win our home games if we want to stay in the Premier League.
"I think people outside the club wrote us off after the Southampton game, but we knew that four of our last six games are at home, we knew that we had a good record at home and we knew that we were still in with a chance.
"One week later, everything''s changed. Norwich have slipped up, we''ve capitalised and now it''s anyone''s to grab now. Hopefully we can be the team that takes the last five games by the scruff of the neck and does enough to survive."