Newcastle United have last laugh after what away end did as chiefs see ballsy move - 5 things

Newcastle United have moved up to fifth place in the Premier League following a 2-1 win against Brentford at St James' Park.

Alexander Isak opened the scoring for the Carabao Cup winners just before half-time, but Bryan Mbeumo equalised from the spot midway through the second half after Nick Pope brought Yoane Wissa down inside the box. Newcastle recovered, though, to win the game courtesy of a jaw-dropping strike from Sandro Tonali late on.

Here are five things we learned from the game.

Sandro Tonali stuns Brentford...again

Brentford must be sick of the sight of Sandro Tonali. The Italy international has scored four goals for Newcastle this season. Three of them have come against the Bees.

When Newcastle needed someone to step up, after Brentford had drawn level, Tonali did so with a frankly absurd strike. There was little more than a quarter of an hour left on the clock when Tonali let fly from out on the right flank and, somehow, beat the Brentford goalkeeper from an impossible angle with what the Italy international humbly termed '70% a cross'.

Tonali leapt on to the advertising hoardings to take the acclaim of the Leazes End after watching the ball nestle in the net. Stunned Newcastle fans twirled their scarves and repeatedly sang: "Sandro! Olé, olé, olé!" No one in the stadium could quite believe it.

A familiar combination delivers

It looked as if Newcastle had left their finishing boots at Wembley at first. In fact, the tone was set from the off when Alexander Isak headed wide from Tino Livramento's cross inside 90 seconds.

Jacob Murphy and Joelinton both went on to send efforts wide before Isak blazed over after being slipped through midway through the first half. It got to the stage where Fabian Schar took matters into his own hands from distance - only for his long-range effort to strike Isak in the stomach and go wide. When Newcastle did eventually have the ball in the back of the net, just before half-time, Harvey Barnes' header was ruled out after the forward was flagged offside.

Yet misfiring Newcastle kept pushing and the Magpies' perseverance was rewarded in the final act of the first half. The ball came out to Jacob Murphy out on the right and, as he so often has this season, the forward looked up, spotted Isak and sent a teasing cross into the box. There was Isak to catch the ball on the volley, after Bryan Mbeumo slipped inside the box, to put Newcastle in front.

Isak, in the process, became the first player in Newcastle's history to score 20-plus goals in back-to-back Premier League seasons but it was rather telling that the Sweden star's first thought after scoring was to lift up Murphy after his team-mate set him up once again.

Geordies dream of Champions League

If Newcastle are to qualify for the Champions League, the black-and-whites are going to need to turn the stadium into a fortress again. Six of Newcastle's final 10 games of the season are at home and as good as Eddie Howe's team have been on the road, eight sides had picked up more points on their own turf before a ball was kicked on Wednesday night. In fact, Newcastle had lost two of their previous three home league games.

The visit of Brentford, therefore, felt like a timely test. The Bees were in the midst of the longest winning run on the road by any side this season and had won each of their last five Premier League away matches. No wonder Kieran Trippier warned: "We must be relentless. There's no time to rest on our laurels."

Newcastle showed grit to find a way to open the scoring, to bounce back after Brentford's equaliser and to close the game out after eight minutes of stoppage time were added on and that is a quality the Magpies are going to need if they are to finish in the top five. Geordies are certainly believing. Newcastle fans even felt emboldened enough to sing: "Is this the way to Barcelona? Bayern Munich, Lazio, Roma. Geordie boys are taking over - Champions League awaits for me!'

Paul Mitchell sees Bryan Mbeumo show bottle

The whistles were deafening as Bryan Mbeumo stepped up. Mbeumo had been made to wait, following a VAR check, but the Brentford star nonchalantly sent Nick Pope the wrong way from the spot to level it up midway through the second half.

Mbeumo's response was striking. Rather than celebrating, Mbeumo grabbed the ball and raced back to the centre circle so that the game could quickly get back under way as he targeted all three points.

Newcastle already knew an awful lot about Mbeumo, who has 22 goal involvements in the Premier League this season, but watching sporting director Paul Mitchell will have learnt a lot about the forward's bottle on Wednesday night.

Brentford fans silenced as celebrations continue

Thomas Frank understandably hoped Newcastle had an 'unbelievable party' after winning the Carabao Cup. The Brentford boss predicted there was going to be a 'celebration' at St James' - and he was not wrong.

Wor Flags pulled out all the stops. There was an 'Eddie Howe - history made' banner in the Gallowgate; a series of silver and gold foil flags depicting the Carabao Cup trophy in the Leazes End; and Sam Fender was powerfully quoted in the East Stand with the lyrics 'for all the ones who didn't make the night'.

Geordies were understandably still on a high just a few days after the parade. There was a chant of 'Don't you know pump it up - Newcastle won the cup!' straight from kick-off. The home support sang about how 'we're Newcastle and we're going to win the cup'. 'Europe again, olé, olé!' even returned.

They did not have it all their own way, of course. There was stunned silence when Brentford were awarded a penalty in the 66th minute as the away end crowed: "No noise from the Saudi boys!' before a rendition of 'Shall we sing a song for you?' However, it was Newcastle fans who ultimately had the last laugh following Sandro Tonali's outrageous winner.