IF Mike Ashley is going to agree to sell Newcastle United to Amanda Staveley then the sooner the better, with a transfer window and a fight to avoid another drop into the Championship looming large.

This was an encouraging night of football for the Magpies in many respects. The unwanted distraction of the ongoing takeover talk, however, isn’t helping anyone as a worrying run of form continues on Tyneside.

There were more claims, albeit still unconfirmed from the corridors of power at St James’ Park, that Staveley and the PCP Capital Partners group she represents are closer than ever before to reaching an agreement over the purchase of the Magpies; having increased an opening offer to somewhere closer to the £300m figure that might tempt Ashley into moving on.

And there were plenty of positives in Newcastle’s play as they did most of the pressing against an Everton side very much on the up following the appointment of former St James’ and Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce (the first manager Ashley sacked).

But when the final whistle was blown at the end of another night of football in front of the Gallowgate, the reality is Newcastle head to Arsenal on Saturday without a win in eight matches and are sitting just a point above the Premier League’s relegation zone. A trip to West Ham is pencilled in before Christmas too, which is growing in significance.

The seventh defeat of that dour winless run was dished out courtesy of another Wayne Rooney goal. His 27th minute finish from close-range, after goalkeeper Karl Darlow had gifted him the chance, was the 15th of his career against Newcastle and that is more than he has scored against any other club.

After that Everton did what an Allardyce side tends to do: frustrate. That meant Newcastle, for all their possession and pressure, very rarely seriously threatened Jordan Pickford in the visitors’ goal.

The tenth defeat from 17 league games back in the top tier provided a further reminder that this Newcastle squad, whether it be from Staveley or Ashley, is in dire need of investment to improve creativity and attacking quality for the second half of the campaign.

Newcastle – who then had Jonjo Shelvey sent off in the dying seconds for a stupid lunge on Idrissa Gueye - have not come from behind to win this season. In fact they have only recovered two points from losing positions, so once Rooney had found the net it was more than likely Everton would win. And they did.

While negotiations continue behind-the-scenes, Benitez has plenty of work on his hands just to keep Newcastle out of the bottom three. Only other results prevented them from falling in after this loss.

The last thing Ashley or Staveley needs come August is to be the owner of a team in the Championship.

There is no disputing the fact Newcastle are in need of better players, and every time Benitez sends his team out his selections suggest as much. He has always been renowned for tinkering, but on Tyneside he seems to be doing it in a bid to keep the players in a mediocre squad on its toes.

He made four changes to face Everton. Skipper Jamaal Lascelles was brought back into shore of a defence which had leaked 15 goals in five matches, while Shelvey, Mohamed Diame and Christian Atsu were also recalled.

And, like so many recent matches, Newcastle started promisingly. The problem was that they couldn’t capitalise and this time they couldn’t even take the lead like they have in previous outings.

The closest Newcastle came to finding the net before Everton’s breakthrough was when a quick counter-attack, after Dominic Calvert-Lewin had gone close to turning a cross in at the other end, ended with Matt Ritchie hammering a 20-yard drive against the upright.

There couldn’t have been any complaints from the visitors had that gone in, although the reality was that Allardyce’s players had done the jobs asked of them defensively. Other than that chance, Ritchie’s low effort into Pickford was the only time they seriously threatened.

It was something of surprise to see Darlow preferred to Rob Elliot in goal just days after he was partially to blame for allowing Riyad Mahrez’s opener through him in the defeat to Leicester. And Benitez turned away in disgust after seeing his decision backfire this time.

When Calvert-Lewin’s cross was floated into the Newcastle box towards Aaron Lennon, the diminutive winger shouldn’t have been allowed to direct a header towards goals. Even when he did, though, Darlow made a mess of the simple task of gathering and Rooney slid into force over the line.

Benitez wasn’t the only was disappointed. In fairness to Darlow’s team-mates they picked up the pace again for the remainder of the half and came close to levelling a few times.

The pick was when Mikel Merino’s 25-yard drive crashed off the inside of the far post and bounced across the six-yard box and to safety, while Dwight Gayle rolled an effort into the arms of former Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford too.

Newcastle continued to be the side in the ascendancy after the restart. Supporters sensed there would be an equaliser too, but the closest they came was when Florian Lejeune headed wide at the back post after Merino’s blocked shot dropped invitingly to him.

In a further sign of the mistrust Benitez has for Aleksandar Mitrovic, the Serbian was not even named among the substitutes. The responsibility from the bench in an attacking sense was on Joselu, Rolando Aarons and Ayoze Perez to make the difference. None did.

In fact the nearest either side came to altering the scoreline was when Ashley Williams’ downward header was turned behind for a corner by Darlow.

And with the game lost, the seconds running out, Shelvey then decided to dive in on Gueye to make another bad result look even worse by his second red card of the season.