AS he trudged from the St James’ Park turf, head bowed in reflection, Steve McClaren must have felt a sense of familiarity. When it comes to dealing with defeat at the home of Newcastle United, the former Magpies manager has been there plenty of times before.

He is also no stranger to the political machinations that have dominated the agenda on Tyneside in the last couple of weeks, leading Rafael Benitez to question his long-term future amid suggestions of broken promises from an increasingly hands-on Mike Ashley.

So when McClaren slipped back into his old office for a post-match chat with Benitez on Saturday night, the atmosphere might have been more akin to a self-help group than a meeting of rival managers.

“I’ll have a glass of wine and a good conversation, and it will be very interesting, but it's private - very private,” said the Derby boss, after his side suffered a 1-0 defeat courtesy of Matt Ritchie’s deflected first-half strike. “But please don’t take me back – my focus is not on Newcastle, or on Rafa’s problems, only on ours.”

For McClaren, the need to outmanoeuvre Ashley is in the past. For Benitez, it is both the present and the future, and for all that Newcastle needed to get back to winning ways on the pitch at the weekend, the afternoon was always going to be equally notable for what was happening in the stands.

The first chorus of Benitez’s name rang around St James’ in the minutes before kick-off, and it was still being sung lustily ten minutes into the game. It was reprised at regular intervals, with Newcastle’s supporters clearly determined to express their love and admiration for their Spanish manager.

Just as he had after the Tottenham game at the end of last season, Benitez walked onto the pitch at the final whistle, shook the hand of each and every player, and lingered to wave to all four corners of the ground before heading down the dug-out.

Newcastle’s attendance of 52,271 was the biggest in British football on Saturday, despite the club’s status in the second tier. Take away the pocket of visiting Derby fans at the top of the Leazes End, and all the rest would back Benitez over Ashley without a moment’s hesitation. That influenced the former Real Madrid manager’s thinking in the summer; might it do so again if he finds himself questioning his position at the end of the current campaign?

“The fans have been amazing for me all year, and I’m happy if they continue singing my name, but also supporting the players,” said Benitez. “If the players win, I win, and if the players win, the fans win.

“The positive thing was the communication between the fans and players. They were cheering when we were tackling, which created a very good atmosphere. Hopefully, we can keep that atmosphere for the rest of the season.

“It was important they (the fans) realised that they can make the difference in a game like this – from the start, they were ready to back the team and cheer the players.

“The players responded to it, we started the game well, and the fans were happy with that. You could feel the atmosphere when we scored the goal, and the fans know the players will run a little bit more if they can feel this support and this atmosphere.”

The reaction from the stands certainly seemed to have a positive effect in the opening half-hour as Newcastle shrugged off the lethargy that had been apparent in their play for much of Wednesday’s draw with QPR and set about taking the game to a Derby side that travelled to Tyneside having only suffered two defeats since the end of October.

Mo Diame’s return in place of Ayoze Perez definitely helped, with the Senegal international, recently returned from the Africa Cup of Nations, providing a muscularity and presence that enabled him to hold off opposition defenders in order to link play. For all his technical ability, Perez continues to look lightweight and fragile in the Championship. Diame is not afraid to knock people around in order to hold on to the ball.

Having gone close himself with a shot that was saved by Scott Carson, Diame had a hand in Newcastle’s winner as he rolled the ball into Aleksandar Mitrovic in the box. Mitrovic teed up Ritchie, and the Scotsman claimed his fourth goal in the space of three league games with a 20-yard strike that took a hefty deflection off Bradley Johnson.

The Magpies started the second half in complete control, but two key events went against them. The first was a dreadful miss from Mitrovic, who continues to frustrate in terms of a lack of end product, and the second was an injury to Isaac Hayden that forced Diame to adopt a more defensive role. Suddenly, instead of pouring forward, Newcastle were on the back foot.

“He (Diame) was making the difference, and was doing really well,” said Benitez. “We lost a little bit of control when Hayden went off because in these (attacking) areas, he (Diame) was a threat against them.

“But we needed to do it because we knew it could be one of the situations that we had to change, and a decision to make during the game.”

Having been the dominant force for most of the afternoon, Newcastle spent the final quarter-of-an-hour holding on. Tom Ince missed a sitter as he rolled a close-range shot wide of the target, and Darren Bent thought he had scored in the fifth minute of injury time, only for a back-pedalling DeAndre Yedlin to nod away his goal-bound header from the line.

A second stoppage-time concession in the space of a week would have been harsh on the Magpies, who moved back above Brighton and established a six-point gap to third-placed Reading. It has been a traumatic few days on Tyneside, but at least there was a positive end.

“It was clear what we needed (in the transfer window), but now it is over,” said Benitez. “We said things during the window, and we said things after.

“We are in the position we are in, we have to stick together and we have to keep working hard, trying to win games. We have plenty of time to see what happens. If we keep winning games, we will enjoy it. That’s it.”