Newcastle 2 Stoke City 1: Jamaal Lascelles the hero again as Rafael Benitez celebrates return to dugout

There was a reason Newcastle United were able to persuade Stoke City to let them have Joselu and this was it. Newcastle may have won the game, but the former Stoke player very nearly cost them the victory.

The Spaniard knew it. As Newcastle’s matchwinner Jamaal Lascelles walked towards the dressing room, after celebrating a third successive Premier League win, he was embraced by Joselu, who nestled his head against his chest. Lascelles’s second-half header secured three points, but it also spared their new centre forward days of regret and recrimination.

Three times, the Spaniard was left with just the goalkeeper to beat, three times he failed to score. When Stoke equalised through Xherdan Shaqiri in the second half, Joselu must have feared the worst.

These are the accusations that have plagued him throughout his career, these are the performances that mean his career has stalled. This is the reason Stoke sold him to Newcastle for just £5 million in July.

Joselu is a striker who does not score goals, a forward who panics at the crucial moment, a player who crumbles when he is asked to do the thing every player in his position is expected to do. He has scored once for Newcastle, but this was still the sort of performance that could have taken weeks to recover from if his team had dropped points.

“For a striker when you have chances it is important to score,” said Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez. “For a striker, playing against [former club] Stoke, maybe even more.

“I am really pleased with his contributions. He was winning in the air, he was holding the ball, I’m really pleased we are creating these chances. But if we had not won, we would have been talking about the ones we missed.”

As for Lascelles, this is the second game in a row the skipper has scored the winner. More than that, it is the second game in a row in which he has defended superbly. He is more than just a leader now, he is turning into the player Benitez believed he could be when he gave him the captain’s armband just over 12 months ago.

The win lifted Newcastle up to fourth in the table and the frustration and resentment that festered after the close of the transfer window has disappeared.

“I haven't seen the table and I don’t want to see the table,” added Benitez. “The main thing is the togetherness and the work rate and the character. It is really important that players want to stay, want to fight, want to defend their black and white shirt.”

Stoke may have more glamorous names these days, but they lacked the basic ingredients to win away from home. Stoke were out-worked and out-hustled by their hosts, particularly in the first half.

Newcastle displayed all the battling qualities Stoke used to take pride in. They took the lead through Christian Atsu and should have wrapped the game up before half time.

Matt Ritchie had the luxury of time - far too much as far as Stoke were concerned - but made the most it, delivering an exquisite cross, which curled and dipped perfectly to find the far-post run of Atsu, who scored with a side-footed volley.

Stoke had offered virtually nothing in attack, with the star summer signing, Jese, a passenger, their only threat coming from a long-range shot from Shaqiri that was tipped over by Rob Elliot.

Newcastle’s tails were up and Chancel Mbemba was also given time to survey his options out wide and, spotting the run of Joselu, sent in another delicious cross.

The Spaniard was in the clear, but for some reason tried to take on a first-time volley, with the ball dropping over his shoulder, and dragged it wide.

He had an even better chance minutes later, when DeAndre Yedlin’s shot deflected perfectly into his path, but with just Jack Butland to beat he stabbed a tame effort against his legs.

Things got even worse for the striker, just seconds into the second half. Played in again by Atsu in front of the Gallowgate End, he blazed over the bar. Even his teammates had their heads in their hands.

Stoke should have been finished, instead they were level as Shaqiri pulled the trigger, a low shot beating Elliot and nestling in the bottom corner.

Stoke, second best for so long, were now on top and Bruno Martins Indi was denied by a magnificent save from Elliot.

The game remained in the balance, but after Atsu had taken too long to shoot, allowing Kurt Zouma to make a brilliant recovery tackle, Newcastle took the lead again when Lascelles headed home Ritchie’s corner.

Stoke missed a wonderful chance of their own when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting smashed a half volley over before Mame Biram Diouf headed wide in stoppage time.

“We didn’t play particularly well, we were not as good as we have been recently,” said Stoke boss Mark Hughes. “But we still had the chances to take something from the game, we were the better team in the second half.”