To think this could end up being Newcastle's United final visit to Goodison Park if Everton go down. If that is to be the case, this 4-1 victory was not a bad way to sign off. No wonder the away end were still singing: "Don't take me home..." long after the final whistle.
Many of the 3,000 Geordies in attendance previously had altogether different memories of this stadium, which relegation-threatened Everton will leave behind to move into their new Bramley Dock home in the 2024-25 campaign. Who could forget a 3-0 defeat in 2016 when the visitors looked doomed under Steve McClaren? Even in better times, under Eddie Howe, Newcastle conspired to lose 1-0 last season despite Everton going down to 10 men and the scores being level in the 98th minute.
This had not been a happy hunting ground to say the least. Newcastle had only won one of their previous 10 visits yet that hoodoo was ended on Thursday night as the Magpies put yet another top-flight side to the sword following Sunday's 6-1 win against Spurs. These were very different tests yet the similarly emphatic score line was just what Howe wanted.
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"When you look at the Tottenham game and you analyse it, you see us scoring the amount of goals in a short period of time," the Newcastle boss told reporters. "You then come to a completely different game.
"We knew today [Thursday] was going to be chalk and cheese from that game, that environment we were playing in, so I felt my team needed to reflect that in its performance - and we did. That's huge credit to the players for turning up, dealing with the physical challenge, the direct play. Everything that Everton threw at us in the early stage of the game, we dealt with and then our quality showed."
That quality showed, all right, from Joe Willock's run and cross for Joelinton's header to Callum Wilson's stunning effort from the edge of the area to make it 3-0. However, the moment of the match was not a goal or, technically, even an assist. It was what substitute Alexander Isak did in the 81st minute.
Some strikers can sulk when rotated - let alone when pushed out wide - but Isak selflessly embraced the role when he replaced Sean Longstaff late on and quickly made an impact to extinguish any hopes Everton had of a late fightback. It all started when Dan Burn played the ball down the line to Isak just inside the hosts' half, right by the touchline, just a minute after Dwight McNeil had pulled one back for the hosts. Isak was a long way from goal - but not for long.
Isak raced past Ben Godfrey down the left-hand side and reached the corner in a matter of seconds. However, Isak was not about to run down the clock. Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane rushed over, but Isak simply slalomed past the pair by the byline before turning them inside, out and gliding past Godfrey.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the run was how Isak managed to, somehow, keep the ball in play yet the 23-year-old was in full control at all times as he unselfishly chipped it across goal. The cross took a deflection off James Tarkowski, which cruelly denied Isak an official assist, but Jacob Murphy was there to tap the ball into the net at the back post.
Murphy may have been the goal scorer, but you would not have known it after the winger ran over to hug Isak along with the rest of his stunned team-mates. Well, stunned might not be the right word.
These players have already seen Isak do some special things in games and on the training pitches, too. At this rate, nothing is a surprise. As fellow striker Callum Wilson told BT Sport: "He's a top player. You want to play with good players all the time. Unfortunately, we play in the same position a lot of the time. When he's out wide, he can do things like that."
While Isak and Wilson will continue to be rotated as starters, Thursday night offered a rare glimpse of the £83m pair playing together in Howe's preferred 4-3-3 formation. Do not bet against it happening again.
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