McClaren admits that his Toon side will need to continue to develop on how to control the games, especially when we are in the lead.

McClaren said: “We are not at that level (where we can control games) yet but that is the level you want to get to.”

“We are trying to get that balance between the two so we are growing, developing; we are not there yet but as long as we keep battling and picking up the points and always being competitive (then we’ll be fine).”

Newcastle took the lead in the 38th minute, when De Jong mis-hit delivery, the ball skidded under Chancel Mbemba and through the entire Villa defence before Coloccini sliced his shot into the net.

Newcastle then have to the chance to kill the game in the 59th minute, with Wijnaldum picked out Siem de Jong unmarked at the back post just to see the Dutchman direct his header wide.

It was an awful miss – and then Villa were level after Janmaat allowed Ayew some space in the left-hand corner of our defense box before whipping a curled shot into the far corner past a diving Elliot.

Elliot had another good performance and kept Newcastle level couple of times, especially with a brilliant tipping over a powerful Gestede header in the second half. So finally with a promotional code money placed on draw was at this time very lucrative.

Ayoze Perez, who come in as substitute then missed another Toon great opportunity to win the game in injury-time just like what he did against Spurs. Played in by Sissoko, he could only direct his shot high and wide from 12 yards out.

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In the effect of his transfer speculation to Arsenal, Cabaye was not taking part in Newcastle’s first two Premierleague match this season against Manchester City and West Ham as well as in the League Cup against Morecambe.

“I want to forget what happened during the summer, I want to put it behind me and give everything for Newcastle every day, for the club and for my team-mates.” he said,

“If the fans were – or still are – mad at me for what happened then I understand and I apologise to them.”

Coming on as a substitute against Fulham in the previous matchday, Cabaye regained his position back in Toon first team squad against Aston Villa last Saturday and quickly shown he’s still one of Newcastle United quality player.

We, the Toon Army accepted his apology and when he was substituted at Villa Park, the travelling Toon fans give him a fantastic ovation for his part in Newcastle first away win this season.

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Ben Arfa once again our man of the match imho, while on the ball he’s very dangerous with his movement and pace, and one golden opportunity has successfully converted into goal in 18th minutes. This is what made our fans happy – as many of our fans placed a bet or two on him /our team. Luckily, even if they placed a draw no bet type of bet, they didn’t lose!

After the lead, it seems that we were a bit vurnerable while under pressure, our back four were struggling defensively and almost get caught by Agbonlahor in the start of second-half.

Newcastle’s regained the attacking dominance shortly with Remy and Ben Arfa blistering pace are continuing to torment the home side. Ben Arfa denied his second while his curling effort was saved by Brad Guzan’s.

But after Remy being brought off with Gouffran coming on in his place, we are once again under pressure and Benteke levelled with a bullet header.

Thanks to Yoan Gouffran who takes us back in the lead in 73rd minutes after taking the advantage from Ben Arfa’s fierce left-foot shot that can only parried by Guzan.

We could have couple more goals, with Cisse and Ben Arfa both are going close.

The verdict, I can see some improvement going in the squad and hopefully this team can keep the team spirit and stay free of injuries at least until the next transfer window re-open in January next year.

Tiotte is back in the game, while Cabaye is still not in his best performance but soon he will be. In defense I think we still have plenty of work to do, as well as to bring Cisse’s killer instinct back.

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Cabaye still looked as if he was on his holidays and Ben Arfa was having one of those frustrating afternoons when he kept running into trouble. Our delivery into the box, both from open play and from set pieces was absolutely woeful.

Villa were no better but were worki g their socks off closing us down and denying space. We seemed unable to match them in that respect and were beginning to leave players unmarked in the box.

Bent was left free on our left about 8 yards out but couldn’t make the most of it thankfully. The ball was then played out their left where it was headed on by some bloke who was unmarked to another bloke who was unmarked who crossed for a third bloke who was poorly marked to head in. Sorry an out the lack of names but I didn’t know half their team at all.

Simpson then went off injured. I assumed Santon would move over, Jonas back and Marveaux would come on. Wrong – Anita moved back (and did a decent job there) and Bigirimana came on in midfield. This lad is still raw and makes the odd mistake but I noticed his contribution far more than that of some of our established players.

Second half saw little improvement at first. I told Mr Jacko that Pardew should take Ben Arfa off because he was as much use as a plastic frying pan. Next minute he cuts in from the left and unleashes an absolute thunderbolt into the top corner of the net!

We huffed and puffed after that but came nearest to scoring in the final minute when a superb Cabaye free kick was clawed away from the top corner by Guzan.

A disappointing display against a team who had little to offer other than great work rate.

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We’ve had better football teams over the years, but there is much to admire about this team. We struggled in the 1st half. Imho, this was once again largely down to our apparent inability to deal with the opposition playing an extra man in midfield.

Perch and Guthrie tended to move towards the same man, and where frequently passed around, leaving large gaps in front of the back four.

I had confidence Alan Pardew would sort this out at Half-Time, and he appeared to do so simply by telling Perch to stop chasing around the pitch and hold his position in front of the back four.

Villa created too many half chances for comfort, and Krul was kept fairly busy, dealing with pretty well everything thrown at him superbly. As usual, Simpson was awful, including on their goal when he did not get tight enough to Insomnia.

Santon was again decent going forward, and rather suspect defensively. He and Jonas are forming a useful partnership, but being right-footed they both slow progress by constantly needing to bring the ball onto the right foot.

Colo was less effective than normal, seemed rather hesitant, and made a number of unusual errors.

We were much brighter in the 2nd half with Obertan occasionally threatening down the right, Jonas working incredibly hard up and down the left, Guthrie working his nuts off in the provider role, and Cisse and Ba’s movement causing Villa problems. What a joy to have two mobile forwards!

After a tough night on Wednesday, we tired towards the end and let them come on to us; however, we saw it out. It would have been criminal if Cisse had been denied the winner after that phenomenal strike and a hugely encouraging debut.

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