35-year-old Alan Shearer finally eclipsed Jackie Milburn's 200-mark to write himself into Geordie folklore with a 64th-minute strike which wrapped up a first Premiership victory for the Magpies in seven attempts.
Shearer: "The goal was a big, big goal for me, obviously, but you have to believe me, the biggest relief was that it helped us get the three points.
"I couldn't have wished for it to come at a better place and at a better time. We needed it and we needed it in a performance form everyone today, and we got that.
"I wish Graeme was here to see it because whatever anyone thinks of him, he's an honest, decent, hard-working, genuine man. It didn't work out for him. He knows - you don't have to tell him, he's a big boy - that we are in a results-driven business and we didn't get the results because of an horrendous injury situation.
"But you saw today - we took Emre off, Scott Parker off, Nolberto Solano off and put Kieron Dyer on, Lee Bowyer on and Lee Clark. Graeme didn't really have that luxury for a lot of the time. But he would have wanted us to win today because he's that type of bloke. He's not bitter, he's honest.
"We went out and put in a performance that has been coming, and we needed to do it under pressurised circumstances."