Nottingham Forest 2-3 Newcastle: Bruno Guimaraes scores twice to seal crucial away victory for Eddie Howe's side after VAR denied Taiwo Awoniyi  controversial penalty

Forest twice came back from behind but Newcastle took all three points Goals from Bruno Guimaraes and Fabain Schar sealed the victory The only PR that managers get is results... the way Erik ten Hag handled Marcus Rashford was a rare positive for the Man Utd boss - It's All Kicking Off podcast 

They are making Kevin Keegan’s Entertainers look offensively cautious and defensively sound by comparison. For supporters of Newcastle United, Eddie Howe’s current vintage feel more like the great Tormentors. In Bruno Guimarares, however, they have the Greatest Showman.

And how those travelling fans enjoyed another crazy contest in which their team attacked with flair and defended with a customary despair. Chaos reigned but so, too, did Guimaraes, their two-goal match-winner.

Newcastle had to take the lead three times to achieve victory and on each occasion it felt fragile. Play like this every week and you’ll win some, lose some, draw some, and that just about captures their recent form.

It is hard to make sense right now of a team who were so consistent last season, but you cannot deny they are fun to watch, for reasons both good and bad.

This outcome could easily have been flipped. Nuno Espirito Santo felt his side should have had a penalty at 2-2 and he had a case, given goalkeeper Martin Dubravka clipped striker Taiwo Awoniyi when he was clear on goal.

Bruno Guimaraes was the brilliant match-winner for Newcastle, scoring twice

Fabian Schar continued his fine form as the defender scored in between two Guimaraes goals

Forest twice came back from behind but Newcastle ended up taking all three points

Your browser does not support iframes.

Forest beat Newcastle 3-1 in Boxing Day’s reverse fixture and, like then, they knew how to exploit the gaps that Howe and his players just cannot plug. This time, Guimaraes’ goals were enough to mask those shortcomings.

The only surprise was that his strike to make it 3-2 in the 66th minute was the last of the game. Until then, this felt headed for the same 4-4 outcome as Newcastle’s last outing at home to Luton.

Instead, they survived a couple of nervy moments late on to make it four straight wins on the road in all competitions. While the home fortress crumbles – no win since before Christmas – they are parking their tanks on opposition lawns and coming out all guns blazing, even if they are still shooting themselves in the foot at times.

Howe said: ‘This was a massive result for us. It gives us a really big high. The players keep on giving more and more and I’m so proud of them.’

Newcastle’s games have seldom been dull this season but, after dominating the first 10 minutes with a near 90 per cent of the ball and taking a deserved lead, it felt like this could be a routine win against a side who had lost five from six at home. We should have known better.

Their opener is worth revisiting, so good was it. It looked for a split-second like their short-corner routine had been sloppily executed. The end-product, though, was polished. The ball was worked to Kieran Trippier and he swept to the far post where Guimaraes arrived unannounced to volley first time beyond debutant Matz Sels.

Forest’s tactic was to let the visitors have the ball and then, in rare moments of possession, attempt to expose the same weakness time after time. Howe had spent almost the entirety of his pre-match press briefing defending Dan Burn, the left-back who has struggled of late against pacy wingers.

Anthony Elanga is a winger and he’s pacey – as Burn discovered on Boxing Day – and he was only denied a goal on 17 minutes by the feet of Dubravka after escaping in behind the Newcastle defender. That served notice of Forest’s intent and the same strategy soon brought them level.

If you asked Siri to show you Newcastle conceding a goal, this would be it. Their midfield was taken out by one pass and, from there, Morgan Gibbs-White released a through-ball that sounded the starter’s gun for a foot race between Elanga and Burn. There was only going to be one winner and one outcome when Dubravka made the baffling decision to dart beyond his penalty area, allowing Elanga to slip first time beneath him.

Newcastle regained their advantage on 43 minutes when Fabian Schar snapped a half-volley into the bottom corner, but never were you convinced they’d make it to half-time with their lead intact. And so it proved as Callum Hudson-Odoi cut infield from the left and got the luck his endeavour deserved when a 20-yard blast deflected in off Lewis Miley.

Taiwo Awoniyi toppled in search of a penalty after contact with Dubravka but it wasn’t awarded

Guimaraes celebrated passionately with the travelling fans after his winner

Eddie Howe joined in the celebrations after picking up a crucial three points on the road

Forest might have been in front come the hour when a straight punt from Sels beat Sven Botman and this time it was the turn of Awoniyi to expose Newcastle’s lack of pace. He poked the ball around Dubravka and toppled in search of a penalty. A VAR review sided with referee Anthony Taylor but, had he given the spot-kick, it probably would have remained so.

Nuno said: ‘It was clear. I have seen it over and over. Maybe Anthony Taylor does not have a clear view but, when you have a replay, it is clear.’

Picking a winner at this stage was impossible but identifying one of the men likely to grab it was easier, and Guimaraes donned his cape once more to intercept a loose pass from Elanga before driving to edge of the area and curling beyond the reach of Sels.

The scorer and his team may torment their supporters, but the Brazilian really is a born entertainer.