MILES STARFORTH’S ANALYSIS - Hull 0-3 Newcastle

In the end, it was the left foot of Remy Cabella that finally got Newcastle United up and running in 2015.

Up to Cabella’s 40th-minute intervention, Saturday’s game against Hull City had needed a moment of class.

And Cabella provided it on a bitterly cold afternoon on Humberside.

Newcastle didn’t look back after Cabella’s intervention – and Hull, the better team for the first half-hour, just went backwards.

On this evidence, the Championship beckons for Hull.

Just what beckons for United, 3-0 winners, between now and the end of the Premier League campaign is the question being asked on Tyneside now the club has appointed Carver as head coach until the end of the season.

Certainly, this was a game Carver – and Newcastle – couldn’t afford to lose after a win-less start to the year and a series of demanding fixtures on the horizon.

Carver just needed a win – any which way it came.

In the end his team got him a convincing victory at the KC Stadium.

But they were far from convincing for much of the first half. United just couldn’t keep hold of the ball, and the team was indebted to Tim Krul and Fabricio Coloccini in the 18th minute, with the pair combining to keep the ball out of the net.

It was a loose pass from Andy Robertson which led to Newcastle’s goal.

Cabella seized the ball and created himself space to shoot, the midfielder beating Allan McGregor with a left-footed strike to open his account for the club.

Then came Elmohamady and his raised hand.

Elmohamady met a free-kick with his left fist, and deftly directed it past goalkeeper Tim Krul.

For a few seconds, there was confusion at the KC Stadium.Elmohamady seemingly had no shame, for the former Sunderland player ran away wildly celebrating.

But the linesman told referee Phil Dowd that it was a handball, and the goal was eventually disallowed.

Bizarrely, Elmohamady, booked for the incident, was still remonstrating with Dowd as he headed for the tunnel at the half-time break.

United took control after the break – Sammy Ameobi added a second from 30 yards – and the KS Stadium started emptying when substitute Yoan Gouffran netted Newcastle’s third in the 78th minute with a shot that took a deflection.

United had been braver on the ball, and counter-attacked well.

Cabella – who looks to have found his feet in English football – was energetic and enterprising.

His midfield colleague Moussa Sissoko, clearly, doesn’t see his long-term future being at St James’s Park, but his commitment on the pitch at the KC Stadium couldn’t be questioned.

Hull, by contrast, offered little after the break.

And their afternoon was typified by Nikica Jelavic’s miss from one yard after Krul had diverted an effort from Gaston Ramirez into his path.

At the final whistle, Carver and his players went to the away end, filled with 2,500 jubilant Geordies.

Carver was cheered as he applauded them for their backing.

It had been very different a month ago at the King Power Stadium, when the final whistle was met by jeers.

Newcastle’s limp FA Cup defeat to Leicester City hasn’t been forgotten, but on this evidence, progress is being made on the pitch.

With Papiss Demba Cisse back from the African Cup of Nations, Mehdi Abeid fit and Siem de Jong close to a first-team return, Carver should have a stronger hand over the coming weeks, though the squad is vulnerable to injuries in defence and attack.

Carver, however, isn’t expecting any reinforcements before tonight’s transfer deadline.

The 50-year-old must make the most of what he has at the club.

If he can, then the only way should be up for United.

Carver did that against Hull, but his job interview – the longest and most public in football – has 15 more games to run.

And for all the jubilation at the final whistle, few are getting carried away on Tyneside.

Twitter: @milesstarforth

NEWCASTLE UNITED: Krul 8; Janmaat 7, Williamson 7, Coloccini 7, Haidara 7; Sissoko 7, Anita 6, Colback 7; CABELLA 7 (Gouffran, 72, 7), Perez 7 (Cisse, 82), Ameobi 7 (Abeid, 90). Subs not used: Alnwick, Santon, Obertan, Riviere.

HULL CITY: McGregor, Elmohamady, Dawson, Davies, Robertson (Brady, 72), Ramirez, Livermore, Huddlestone, Meyler (Aluko, 56), Hernandez (Ince, 67), Jelavic. Subs not used: Harper, Bruce, McShane, Quinn.

Goals: Cabella 40, Ameobi 50, Gouffran 78

Bookings: Meyler 25, Anita 29, Elmohamady 45, Robertson 64, Livermore 89

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)