Jamal Lewis made his first Premier League start since February against Norwich City.
The Newcastle defender has been massively out of favour for most of the year, losing his place to Matt Ritchie.
However, a suspension for the 32-year-old handed Lewis an opportunity. Did he take it? Well he did his best considering the circumstances.
Newcastle went down to 10 men early on, with Ciaran Clark pulling down Teemu Pukki as he raced through on goal. It was an idiotic decision that put his teammates under huge pressure and inevitably cost the Magpies three points.
It also made life a lot more difficult for Lewis on his return to Premier League action.
The 23-year-old saw a lot less of the ball, and when he did he had limited support from teammates.
But the £15million man was solid defensively, and won a lot of his individual battles. Josh Sargent barely got any change out of him, while the threat of Max Aarons was also nullified by Lewis.
He even denied what looked to be a certain goal in the first half, blocking Sargent’s goal-bound effort from close range in the 29th minute.
All in all, it was a decent return for Lewis, who will hope to retain his place and build on that performance. He looked a lot more solid than Ritchie, who is bang out of form.
Toon fans were impressed with Lewis, having waited so long to see him back in the starting XI.
Newcastle fans hail Jamal Lewis return vs Norwich
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
