Steve McClaren was a relieved man after seeing Newcastle finally secure their first Barclays Premier League win of the season with a 6-2 demolition of Norwich.
The Magpies eased themselves from the foot of the table a week ahead of their derby trip to Sunderland, who replaced them, as Georginio Wijnaldum paid off a sizeable proportion of his £14.5million summer transfer fee with a four-goal blitz.
Asked how much he personally had needed the win, McClaren said: "Of course you need that win, you need that first one. Behind the scenes, it's a huge relief for everybody. It shows our capabilities - that's what I'm taking from the game.
"We have been sensing that and today, it came together."
The victory could hardly have come at a better time for Newcastle, although they made hard work of it as despite scoring three times before the break - Wijnaldum struck twice and Ayoze Perez added a third - they allowed Dieumerci Mbokani and Nathan Redmond to reduce their half-time lead to 3-2.
However, after an uncertain start to the second half, Aleksandar Mitrovic gave them breathing space before Wijnaldum, who was indebted to fellow midfielder Moussa Sissoko for the service he provided, scored twice more to wrap up the points.
McClaren said: "We have been quite calm behind the scenes and quite focused and vocal in our support for everybody and what we are doing, and it was great to see him (Wijnaldum) get the rewards, and I thought Moussa as well.
"I thought Moussa showed today what he is capable of doing. He wants to be a top-four player - he will be a top-four player if he keeps playing like that."
Norwich boss Alex Neil headed away from Tyneside admitting he had learnt a difficult lesson.
He said: "We will bounce back. It's one result. At the end of the day, it's three points we have lost, it's not as if it's anything more than that.
"It's a bit of a lesson for everybody connected with the club. It's a lesson for me in the fact that maybe I have to try to suppress that attacking instinct at times.
"But it's served me well since I've managed teams and we have got ourselves back into games and won tight games like that in the past, so we just need to pick the bones out of it."
Source: PA
