Newcastle hero Alan Shearer stunned Fulham with a second-half double to sink the Cottagers.
The former England striker was in sensational form and struck twice to leave Fulham with their first home defeat under boss Chris Coleman.
And in all honesty Sir Bobby Robson's side always looked in control of the game.
Even when the visitors fell to an early two-goal deficit you could not help but think the game was far from over.
The Magpies started the better side but it was Fulham who got off to a dream start.
Steed Malbranque, yet again Fulham's most dangerous player, terrorised the Newcastle back line after five minutes and pulled the ball back to Lee Clark and the former Tyneside hero took no time in delivering a superb left-foot drive into the far corner of Shay Given's goal.
Three minutes later Newcastle were suffering from a double dose of revenge.
Another former Magpie, Louis Saha, beautifully controlled a long ball from Sylvain Legwinski and rifled a right-footed drive past Given.
The visitors refused to give up however, and, cheered on by 3,000 fans, they pulled one back on the quarter-hour mark.
Shola Ameobi crossed into the box and, following a one-two with Shearer, Laurent Robert scored to put his side back into the game.
Barry Hayles replaced debutant Malik Buari at half time in a bid to exert more pressure on their opponents.
But the plan backfired and five minutes into the second period Ameobi was pulled down in the penalty area.
Captain Shearer stepped up and made no mistake from the spot as he coolly slotted home his seventh Premiership goal of the season.
Five minutes later the Newcastle number nine was celebrating again.
Aaron Hughes fed Jermaine Jenas who in return picked out Shearer giving him the chance to smash the ball into the roof of the net from six yards.
Lee Bowyer had a chance to clinch the points 15 minutes from time when he steered a low shot wide of goal.
But in the end Fulham could have stolen a point. Japanese substitute Junichi Inamoto hit a fierce low shot from a crowded penalty area - but somehow Titus Bramble stuck out a foot to clear off the line.
Legwinski came close in the dying minutes but Toon boss Robson was left singing the praises of his main man.
"Shearer was awesome," he said.
"He won a lot of balls in the air and had a lot of movement. The goals were just part of the story. This is a big win for us.
"If we'd lost the difference between us and Fulham would have been nine points but now it's only three."
Fulham boss Chris Coleman meanwhile was very disappointed with his side.
"It's disappointing because we weren't at the races today," he said.
"We got beaten up and that's not good enough. There's no point trying to make excuses with some of the young lads - we just did not deserve to win."