So that's Barnsley out of the way for Newcastle and while it was hardly a spectacular success against limited opposition, the Tykes were at least dispatched patiently and efficiently enough.
It's far too premature to be talking about trophies and trips to Wembley, but at least the dream lives on for the time being and it is another game unbeaten for Sam Allardyce.
While my old friend Sven-Goran Eriksson may have drawn considerably more plaudits for his excellent start at Manchester City, Allardyce has made a solidly encouraging beginning to his time on Tyneside. Like the performance against Barnsley, it hasn't been thrilling and it hasn't had many fireworks, but it has done enough to suggest he has got things moving in the right direction.
As long as the signings of Abdoulaye Faye from Bolton and Habib Meye from Marseille are completed before the close of the transfer window, the Newcastle squad will just about have enough strength to make them competitive this season.
Personally, I still feel the team lacks a bit of pace and creativity in midfield, but Joey Barton and Damien Duff will both return from injury at some point in the next couple of months and if Allardyce continues to play a three-man midfield, there is plenty of pace up front in Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen.
Both strikers got goals on Wednesday night and for Owen it will have got a rather large monkey - more like a gorilla given the fact he had not scored a goal for the Magpies since December 2005 - off his back.
I've occasionally been critical of Owen, questioning his commitment - look you don't ask for get-out clauses in contracts and then surreptitiously leak their existence to the media if you don't have any interest in leaving for a better-placed club - but he remains an incredibly valuable asset to Newcastle.
If Owen stays fit he will score goals. Full stop, end of sentence, end of chapter, end of story. In fact, while I won't be putting my money where my mouth is as that's just stupid because it doesn't taste very nice, I'll predict that Owen will not only finish as Newcastle's top goalscorer, he will be among the top five in the country at the end of the season!
I'm still dubious about his ability to play alongside Martins, but Allardyce has two quick natural goalscorers at his disposal, providing genuine competition for places in the most important area of the side. If that means he has a few selection headaches and sleepless nights wondering who to play up front, tough!
Certainly, things look a lot brighter than they did 12 months ago, in fact, dare I say, the club looks and feels like a completely new one now that Glenn Roeder and Freddie Shepherd have been swept out along with various other bits of dead or rotten wood.
Just remember, when the transfer window shut last time, all Newcastle had to show for their rather poor recruitment efforts were Antoine Sibierski - alright so he was ok in the end, but he was always going to be more suited to a club of Wigan's aspirations than Newcastle's - and a blatantly unfit Olivier Bernard who Roeder didn't want in the first place and who never played a first team game!
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