The Newcastle United star Eddie Howe had to disappoint & Elliot Anderson moment TV cameras missed

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has had no choice but to leave his £38million signing Harvey Barnes on the bench in the last fortnight.

Barnes was dropped a fortnight ago after the 2-1 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and has since been restricted to just five minutes in the Premier League and no action in the Carabao Cup win over the Blues. Despite being one of Howe's top scorers and assist makers, Barnes paid the price for Newcastle's recent slump.

And after discussions with Howe, he was left disappointed again when the team news came out at the City Ground on Sunday. Even as time was running out, Barnes would be left with just 10 minutes to make an impact.

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However, he responded in exactly the right manner by grabbing his fourth goal of the season to seal the victory against Nottingham Forest. After the game, Barnes said: "I want to start games. You never want to be on the bench, but when you are, you do everything you can when you come onto the pitch to get back into the team. I can do what I do from the bench from the beginning."

The Elliot Anderson plan that Newcastle scuppered just in time

Nuno Espirito Santo is no mug and could see the tide turning at the City Ground despite his team being 1-0 up. With 51 minutes on the clock he turned to a man Newcastle fans know well in Elliot Anderson.

At 1-0, the stage was set for Anderson to come and attempt to nullify Newcastle's flurry of attacks at the start of the second half. Only the ball just wouldn't go out of play!

With the Whitley Bay youngster stripped and ready to come on and make an impact he could only watch on as Alexander Isak fired off a post from a corner routine. And at that stage Santo's plan was up in smoke as Newcastle suddenly had the momentum.

Anderson knew it too and flung his arms up in frustration knowing the game had changed. Joelinton and Harvey Barnes put the final touches to this victory and for all the fears of Anderson or Chris Wood coming back to haunt Newcastle, the day couldn't have gone much better for the Magpies.

The bigger picture for Eddie Howe

For all the talk of Jose Mourinho eyeing up the Newcastle job, you can see that Howe is building something special at St James' Park. He marked his three-year anniversary in style with a 3-1 victory over Forest.

For all the questions asked of Howe and his players since the autumn slump, when they went five games without a win, they have answered each and every one of them emphatically. Whether it was bouncing back after the 2-1 loss to Chelsea or responding to going a goal down at the City Ground, his team look capable of digging deep when it matters.

Out of all Howe's victories as Newcastle boss - this was his 67th in 139 games - this may have been one of the most satisfactory. Not just after coming back from a goal down, the fact they beat the in-form team in England who were sitting in third spot.

Howe said afterwards: "Hopefully they are a significant three points for us. We desperately didn't want to fall flat today. It is a tough ground and team to play and to come from behind as well, it's a really good day for us.

"I felt we were slightly inconsistent - I wasn't that happy with our first-half performance. It was a bit slow and not direct enough. The passing was a bit sidewards. Credit to the players for the second half because that is everything we want to be. I thought we deserved to win.

"I wanted to see more energy and more sprinting and more direct duels. We were turning down opportunities to attack and that isn't like us and it suited Nottingham Forest."