ON only two occasions since Mike Ashley took over Newcastle United in 2007 have the team finished in the Premier League’s top ten.

But the four-year wait for a third top-half finish cannot be too far away if they continue to produce performances like this.

On a day when Leicester City supporters took full advantage of the free beer being offered by their chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabhato to celebrate his 60th birthday – even though his Wikipedia page claims the milestone does not arrive until June 5 – there was so much to be optimistic about from a Newcastle perspective that it was the travelling fans who were doing all the toasting by 5pm on Saturday.

The way the players celebrated with the Toon Army at the final whistle – five or six of them gleefully tossed their black and white shirts into the jubilant away following – was not over-indulgent but merely a reflection of the sterling job they had just done.

It was also perhaps an expression of the relief that to all intents and purposes, they are home and hosed in terms of survival.

A third successive win lifted Newcastle to tenth place, ten points clear of the safety line with six games left.

If they are not mathematically safe then the gap is surely enough of a cushion to allow fans, players and management to focus on a new goal – achieving a top-half finish that has eluded Newcastle on eight out of ten occasions under Ashley.

“We are nearly there but we still want to get to 40 points,” said manager Rafael Benitez.

But if the positions in the table have reflected the turbulent nature of a club that is still up for sale, then performances like this suggest anything but.

Newcastle were united; a tactical triumph from Benitez that despite them playing 4-4-2 and having to defend deep throughout to prevent Jamie Vardy, Leicester’s predatory striker, from exploiting the gaps behind the defence, saw them never look anything but compact, with all ten outfield players harrying the space to suffocate the Foxes. When called upon, goalkeeper Martin Dubravka came for and collected everything.

Yes, you could argue they rode their luck – Leicester had reasonable claims for a penalty at 1-0 after Paul Dummett’s sliding tackle on Riyad Mahrez took ball and man, only for referee Stuart Attwell to wave aside claims and refuse to even discuss the incident with his assistant.

But Newcastle deserved it for they were the hungrier and better organised of the two teams on the day.

“We made life tough for them and stopped the ball in behind for Jamie Vardy,” explained captain Jamaal Lascelles. “I thought overall, right from our goalkeeper to the front two, we were on our game.

“It was disappointing to give a goal away but the boys and the fans were excellent.”

On a day when Newcastle were so much of a team, it was difficult and maybe unfair, as Benitez pointed out afterwards when asked about the commanding performance of Lascelles, to pick out individuals.

But the performances of Jonjo Shelvey and Ayoze Perez weren’t bettered anywhere and went a long way to securing another precious three points.

Shelvey’s first Premier League goal for the club was simply sumptuous and underlined the confidence that the former Liverpool and Swansea midfielder is currently displaying, while the quality of his passing gave another nudge to England head coach Gareth Southgate.

Having set up Shelvey for his goal, Perez was both architect and finisher, deftly lobbing Kasper Schmeichel after the trajectory of Florian Lejeune’s long clearance left Wes Morgan looking like he was hopelessly chasing a kite in a gale.

“I thought it might take us to show the character and step up to take the game by two hands and Jonjo (Shelvey) led the way in that sense with his goal,” said Lascelles.

“He’s been waiting for that to happen and it couldn’t have happened in a more important game.

“Ayoze showed resilience to chase the ball down for his goal and he was causing problems all game.”

Vardy’s seventh goal in his last nine games for Leicester ended hopes of a third consecutive clean sheet for Newcastle but it wasn’t enough to take the shine off a hugely deserved victory.

It remains to be seen whether Benitez will be given the funds this summer to build on this season’s pleasing return to the top flight – his Leicester counterpart, Claude Puel, could well have a bigger budget this summer.

But the mood behind the scenes is certainly in place to push on, as Lascelles revealed.

“The feeling around the place, in training and before the game, is definitely one of a real confidence – it’s not complacency,” said the captain.

“You can tell when it’s that (complacency) but when you feel this way, luck comes your way and on Saturday I thought we were on the front foot from start to finish.”