When Watford's Joao Pedro headed home in front of the Gallowgate End on January 15th, a vast majority of Newcastle United fans resigned themselves to the fact another season in the Championship was forthcoming. After controlling the game from start to finish, the 87th-minute Hornets equaliser was a hammer blow for a team that had only one Premier League win to their name at that point.
With the 1-0 defeat to Cambridge United taking place one week earlier, the mood around the club could hardly have been lower. It was easy to envisage a relegation battle that went down to the final day at Turf Moor.
Fast forward three months and the feeling could not be different after Bruno Guimaraes' miraculous 95th-minute winner on Easter Sunday. Since January 22nd, when Newcastle beat Leeds at Elland Road, only Liverpool have picked up more Premier League points than the Magpies.
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And since the start of February, Eddie Howe's men have won more points from losing positions than any other team in the top flight. In this period, they have only lost two of the six league matches they have conceded the first goal.
As such, 12 points now separates them from the bottom three with just six league games still to play but Howe remains as cautious as ever and has once again refused to publicly say his side are safe from relegation.
Yet those two aforementioned January disappointments stick in the manager's mind even to this day and have clearly paved the way for the recent revival we've seen from Newcastle. "Not just the Watford game but the Cambridge game too, those moments never leave you. At that moment in time we were in desperate need of a lift," Howe told reporters after the Leicester win.
"We hoped that [Cambridge] game would bring it. Watford at home was the absolute same, we were devastated in that moment. But those moments can sometimes help you. The adversity, the dark moments can help re-inspire and refocus.
"I said recently after we played Tottenham that while I didn't want the second-half to happen, it could be a good thing to refocus our minds and realise what got us to what we are. The defensive resilience that lost us that half, thankfully since then we've been back on it and the lads have been excellent."
The next two fixtures are also win-able for the Magpies, who may have one eye on a top-half finish come the end of May. Wednesday's visit of Crystal Palace gives United the chance to leapfrog the south London outfit in the league. Meanwhile, a trip to rock-bottom Norwich awaits next weekend.
