Dominic Scurr reflects on Newcastle United's 1-0 win at West Ham United. Bruno Guimaraes scored the only goal of the game.
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00:00Here at the London Stadium where Newcastle United have beaten West Ham United 1-0 tonight.
00:06Bruno Guimaraes' second half volley, the difference between the sides.
00:12Eddie Howe described the win as one of his side's best of the season and I sort of get what he's talking about.
00:19Performance wise, absolutely not the best. I think Newcastle were poor, it was a poor quality game really.
00:24Between two poor average sides on the night but Newcastle just that one moment, Harvey Barnes crosses it in.
00:32Does Alexander Isak push Max Killman? West Ham certainly thought so and maybe thought they had grounds to rule the goal out.
00:41But again, there's not a lot in it and then Bruno pops up, leads by example and turns the ball in to give Newcastle an all-important three points.
00:52Performance wise, not great but it was one of those nights where it was about finding a way to win.
01:00After dropping to ninth over the weekend, to climb back up to sixth with a win tonight was really important in the Premier League.
01:07It's just a nice set-up and a nice feeling around the club heading into the Carabao Cup final.
01:13Back here in London, the other side of London, at Wembley Stadium on Sunday against Liverpool.
01:19Newcastle will have to play a hell of a lot better if they want to get something or come away with a Carabao Cup.
01:26Tonight was no real improvement on the recent performances but they did find a way to dig deep and win.
01:35I think one thing you can say is defensively they were a lot more solid.
01:40I think Fabian Schoen and Dan Byrne had their moments to be honest, they were shaky at times.
01:45But in terms of actually keeping the ball away from Nick Pope, keeping the ball out of Newcastle's goal, Newcastle defended very well.
01:51First clean sheet since, in the Premier League at least, in about two months since that 3-0 win against Wolves back in January.
01:59All in all, Newcastle fans who were behind me up there, head away from the capital, very happy indeed.
02:08Eddie Howe was very happy, I think trying to, in his post-match press conference, get some positivity and some feel-good factor around Newcastle heading into the final.
02:18Because it's certainly been lacking after a difficult week, players dropping out, injury, suspension.
02:25And to get that win tonight just feels important, it just gives them a platform.
02:29OK, they're going to have to be a lot better, there's room for improvement, there's stuff to analyse on the training ground this week.
02:36But in terms of just getting a win and having something to build off, really, really important for Newcastle United.
02:44And hopefully they play better on Sunday, they'll have to play better, but hopefully they can build on this little bit of momentum in terms of three points tonight and get the job done on Sunday.
02:58Which, I mean, had they not won tonight it would have been a very, I wouldn't say negative atmosphere heading into a final, but certainly a sort of underwhelmed atmosphere heading into a final based on recent results.
03:13Newcastle had lost three of the last four heading into tonight's game, so importance of the win certainly not lost on Eddie Howe and certainly not lost on the players.
03:24In terms of performances, I think Bruno was probably Newcastle's best player in terms of he won the game, but he was also tidy when Newcastle weren't.
03:36For the most part, if you know what I mean, when the game was scrappy, Bruno just was the man to tidy things up on a few occasions.
03:45Eddie Howe said the left side worked really well for Newcastle tonight, I actually completely disagree with him in that regard.
03:52I thought Harvey Barnes was okay, probably just about past his Wembley audition with an assist and came close on a few occasions.
03:59I think Tino Livermanto at left back, again, he's probably got the pace, got the energy to get up and down, which is important, but as a right-footed player at left back, you saw him.
04:11His service, his delivery isn't the best from the right-hand side, but it was just end of attack whenever the ball went to him on the left-hand side and in the final third tonight.
04:21That was disappointing, but that's just the situation Newcastle are in, playing a player out of position at left back in Lewis Hall's absence.
04:30But other than that, I thought Kieran Trippier had a good game coming back into the side right back.
04:40He played the last game in the FA Cup, but in terms of Premier League back into the side, big performance from him, I thought he was the pick of Newcastle's defenders.
04:50Nick Pope, a big decision made by Eddie Howe starting him tonight, bit of an indicator for the Cowboy Cup final, you'd think, but clean sheet for him, first clean sheet since November for Nick Pope.
05:01Didn't have an awful lot to do, made a couple of good claims, had a slightly hairy moment where it's a simple claim from a Jarrod Bowen shot that he nearly spills, but gathers at the second attempt.
05:18All in all, Newcastle have to take some positivity from the fact Newcastle have won. They've found a way to win, good teams find a way to win, although Newcastle didn't look like a good team tonight for large parts of the match here at the London Stadium.
05:36I've been Dom Sker reporting here from the London Stadium, we'll have all the reaction to come from Eddie Howe, various Newcastle players, and again heading into the Cowboy Cup final weekend at Wembley Stadium.
05:54So yeah, all the fallout from this game over on ShieldsGazette.com and then we'll look forward to Wembley and next time you'll see me I'll be at Eddie Howe's press conference ahead of the trip back down to London.
06:08So catch you there and then hopefully by this time next week we'll celebrate.