THERE was a moment in the first half when Rafael Benitez looked up to the sky from his seat in the dug-out at the John Smith’s Stadium. He needn’t have.

Back-to-back wins over major promotion rivals inside five days means opposite number David Wagner is the man seeking divine intervention.

Not even the heavy rain in west Yorkshire could derail the Magpies’ charge to the Premier League on an evening when Benitez showed his tactical acumen to deliver a club record-equalling 13th away win in the Championship.

Newcastle were happy to allow Huddersfield to have the ball throughout the 90 minutes. The Terriers, playing well and confidently under Wagner, restricted Newcastle to just 209 passes – more than 250 below their average – and just 24 per cent of the possession.

Crucially, Benitez had already accepted that beforehand and had Newcastle set up to play on the break and defend like champions to secure another valuable three points.

Benitez constantly talks about April, when there will be seven games to play, as critical to his side’s promotion bid. Make no mistake, though, the last week has been vital in the race to the top flight.

Following up last Tuesday’s victory at Brighton with another triumph at Huddersfield means Newcastle are five points clear at the top of the table going into tomorrow’s trip to play-off contenders Reading. There is now a handsome 11-point gap to the play-off zone too.

Benitez, keen to shrug off promotion talk, said: “The players know it is not job done. This is a very difficult league and we have to keep going.

“This was another game we wanted to win and we have done. We move on to the next one. We knew Huddersfield would be a team who had possession and we didn’t care about that.

“We have had a lot of possession in a lot of games.

“Our average is 55 per cent, so we do have the ball in games. We knew Huddersfield would have it more here so I wanted to try to do different things, like getting in behind the big centre-backs.”

The way Benitez shaped up Newcastle was to get men behind the ball and counter. It was a ploy that meant Daryl Murphy was asked to lead the line, rather than the fit again Dwight Gayle, because of the former’s ability to hold things up.

Matt Ritchie had put Newcastle ahead in the tenth minute with a precise penalty into the bottom left corner of Danny Ward’s net, even though Huddersfield claimed he had fallen over his own feet under a challenge from Nahki Wells.

There was more controversy surrounding the second. Murphy slotted in the finish in the 33rd minute from a tight angle. He had poked the ball away from Ward, who had the ball in one arm on the floor.

That goal had stemmed from the Irishman’s run in behind, and his heavy touch ended with Ward getting the chance to gather.

The keeper was injured in that incident and didn’t emerge for the second half, when Huddersfield raised the tempo. Newcastle defended astutely, skipper Jamaal Lascelles epitomising the spirit and determination within the group to keep the Terriers at bay with numerous blocks and clearances to frustrate the home side.

There was hope among the Huddersfield supporters when Elias Kachunga was fouled in the area by Jonjo Shelvey with 18 minutes remaining and the impressive Aaron Mooy stroked in the penalty kick.

But Newcastle stayed strong, with goalkeeper Karl Darlow hardly having a save to make. Lascelles was assisted superbly by Ciaran Clark in the middle, while Ritchie and Jack Colback were excellent too.

When Huddersfield pushed in stoppage time to try to earn a point, Newcastle counter-attacked again and made the most of a howler from Ward’s replacement Joel Coleman.

He completely misjudged a long clearance from Clark deep into the Huddersfield half, leaving Gayle to run the ball into an empty net to complete the win. It was Gayle’s 21st goal of the season and arrived after a few weeks of frustration on the injury front.

Benitez said: “We hope this little run and goal will give him the confidence with his injury because he was training some days and then not others because he required treatment.

“He will need time, but he will have more confidence now and hopefully he will be fine until the end of the season.”

Newcastle will break the club record of away wins in a season, set by Kevin Keegan’s group in 1992-93, if they triumph at Reading tomorrow.

Benitez said: “I’m not surprised we have won so many away because I can see this team every day, every week.

“The fans home and away are great but don’t score the goals, so you have to give credit to our players.

“We have taken one step forward, we can’t lose this opportunity.”