Newcastle United get painful West Ham goodbye as Eddie Howe does not hold back in dressing room

"Is this a fire drill?" the away end crowed. There were still seven minutes to go, but a number of Geordies had seen enough as West Ham fans waved them off. Unlike the corresponding fixture last season, a dramatic comeback was not on the cards. Newcastle United suffered a painful 2-0 defeat.

This was ultimately a tale of two boxes at St James' Park. If Newcastle's defending for Tomas Soucek's opener and Aaron Wan-Bissaka's second was bad enough, at the other end, the black-and-whites had 18 shots, 40 touches in the opposition box and eight corners yet could only muster two measly efforts on target.

A 'very honest' Eddie Howe made his feelings clear to the players afterwards on what captain Bruno Guimaraes called a 'night to forget'. Even at this early stage of the campaign, the returning Callum Wilson recognised Newcastle had 'let that opportunity slip through our fingers' in the Magpies' first game after the international break.

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Rather than moving within two points of champions Manchester City, in second place, Newcastle sit in 10th - just three points clear of a supposedly struggling West Ham side. Can they really have any complaints?

In a season where Newcastle have found a way to pick up results against Manchester City, Arsenal and Spurs, the black-and-whites have been defeated by West Ham, Fulham and Brighton and failed to beat Bournemouth and Everton. Newcastle have no divine right to defeat anyone in this league - that's the beauty of the division - but if the Magpies are to be a serious European contender, Howe's team have to pick up more points when the onus is on them to dominate.

"We haven't grabbed the games in these moments as well as we could have done," Howe admitted. "Of course, they present a different challenge to us mentally, tactically and technically.

"It's easy to say in hindsight, but if we score the first goal, the feeling and the result is probably very different because I thought there was a decent feeling about the group before the game. There was a decent vibe in our early exchanges in the game so I thought we were set for a good performance here, but then the reality of what we delivered was totally different.

"You've got to be careful that you don't look at the game wrongly and overreact to the result, but I'm ultimately disappointed we haven't found a way to win that game tonight."

Of course, it would have helped if Newcastle defended West Ham's first corner of the night. Just 10 minutes had been played when Emerson Palmeri swung the ball into the box and the towering Soucek, who Newcastle will have identified as West Ham's main threat from set-pieces, found it far too easy to step away from Lloyd Kelly and power a header past Pope.

It was a sucker punch, but there was still so much time for Newcastle to draw level - if the Magpies could hit the target. That proved a challenge.

First Joe Willock curled an effort wide from inside the box. Then Lewis Hall missed the target after a lung-busting run. Even Alexander Isak, saluted by Wor Flags before kick-off, could only volley wide after expertly chesting down Bruno Guimaraes' lofted pass.

On the rare occasion Newcastle made the 'keeper work, Lukasz Fabianski was there to deny Anthony Gordon following a defensive mix up in the 36th minute. Remarkably, it was the final save that Fabianski had to make after Newcastle failed to find their finishing boots after the break.

Gordon wasted a golden opportunity in the 52nd minute when the England international fired wide from inside the box. It was another costly miss; West Ham doubled their advantage just a few minutes later.

Bruno Guimaraes was far too casual in the middle of the park as he tried to take down Fabian Schar's header and Lucas Paqueta dispossessed his international team-mate before picking out Jarrod Bowen on the right. Bowen waited, drawing Hall and Sean Longstaff to him, and slipped Aaron Wan-Bissaka in. Newcastle players were too slow to react to the danger and Wan-Bissaka had time to look up, pick his spot and drill the ball in off the post.

Newcastle won the corresponding fixture last season despite being 3-1 down with a quarter of an hour to go, but a Lazarus-like comeback was not on the cards this time. In truth, the Magpies became increasingly ragged and desperate as the game went on.

Bruno, Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes, Jacob Murphy, Isak and Callum Wilson were all on the pitch with 20 minutes to go, but the black-and-whites only created one opening of note late on.

Murphy's teasing cross looked destined to reach Wilson but the striker went down after Konstantinos Mavropanos had his arms around the striker as they jumped for the ball. Wilson joined those Geordies behind the goal in appealing for a penalty, but nothing was given. There was to be no late drama this time.