THREE games and three victories for Karl Darlow this season. He just wants it to continue after being handed his first Championship outing of the season.

The 25-year-old goalkeeper was preferred between the posts to Matz Sels on Wednesday night when the Magpies came from two goals behind to claim a memorable three points in a thrilling 4-3 victory against Norwich City.

Conceding three times was not the ideal way to return to the starting line-up but he could have done nothing about the goals and wants to stay in the team at Rotherham United this afternoon.

Rafael Benitez had hinted he would stick by Sels, a £5m buy from Gent in the summer, but Darlow got the nod when the team was announced and the former Nottingham Forest man will be doing his best to stay there.

Darlow said: "He just named the team in the dressing room so I didn't have a clue I would be playing until about 90 minutes before kick-off.

"It was one of them that I just knew I had to prepare like I have been for every game and that my chance would come.

"To be honest I thought it was going to be one of those nights. When we ended up 3-1 down I was just thinking: 'No, any night but this one.'

"I was delighted to get the opportunity, even if I had to pick the ball out of my own net three times! Thankfully I've been training hard, kept my head down and thankfully the gaffer's given me a game tonight - and long may it continue, hopefully.”

Darlow’s only other two starts were in the Capital One Cup and he enjoyed successes over Cheltenham and Wolves, keeping a clean sheet in both ties.

The encounter with the Canaries in midweek, however, was a completely different matter and there was no hiding the satisfaction Newcastle’s players took from the success after scoring two stoppage time goals to win.

"It was an unbelievable game. The fans certainly got their money's worth,” said Darlow. “For the first half-an-hour we absolutely battered them, but we should have been 3-0 or 5-0 up and completely out of sight.

"Then their goals - one was a penalty, one was a deflection and the other one was a brilliant finish into the far corner so they've gone 3-1 up out of nowhere.

"But we showed resilience, passion and the determination to never give up. We've got immense talent in this team which we know will get us a long way, but to know we've got the fight and desire to get us back into games like that is going to stand us in good stead for the Championship."

The victory lifted Newcastle up to third, a point behind previous leaders Norwich in second, ahead of the trip to the New York Stadium.

Darlow said: "It's an absolutely huge win. We've just got to make sure we stay in and around it at the top of the league and then make sure we go on a very good run at some point like we know we can - we've already won six on the bounce this season, so we're all confident we can do that again - and that will then propel you right up the league.

"Now we need to get a good bit of momentum behind us, start racking up wins behind us, then it will really will put us in a strong position."