THIS weekend marks the 58-year anniversary of Newcastle United making footballing history as they were the first ever club to win a Football League game under floodlights, with victory over Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

The game nearly did not go ahead, as a power failure plunged the ground into darkness only half an hour before the scheduled 7pm kick off.

The floodlights were unaffected but the lights in the dressing rooms, turnstiles and offices all failed, leaving the players to change in a darkened dressing room and about 20,000 fans waiting outside the ground on Wednesday, February 22, 1956.

Luckily, engineers managed to rescue the match, restoring power ten minutes before the programmed kick-off time, enabling the game to get under way only six minutes late.

Newcastle did not mind however, as they ran out 2-0 winners, with Bill Curry and Vic Keeble netting for the Magpies.

At the time, Newcastle were deemed fortunate to have been victorious as Portsmouth spurned a mountain of chances, whereas the Tynesiders took the only notable ones presented to them.

The victory propelled them to third in the top division, above rivals Sunderland on goal difference.

However, despite this promising league position and victory in the FA Cup the year before, Newcastle only managed a disappointing 11th place finish at the end of the 1955-56 season.

Coincidentally, it was local rivals Sunderland who were responsible for such history being made, as in 1955 the Wearsiders made a proposal that led to the formal introduction of floodlit fixtures into the Football League.

Sunderland believed that if the clubs in question both agreed, postponed fixtures could be played under floodlights.

Newcastle had in fact had floodlights installed for some time, yet they had never played under them competitively.

The lights were switched on for a friendly against Celtic in February 1953, but they were promptly switched off again at half-time, sending the entire crowd into darkness.