EDDIE HOWE admits the strength of Newcastle United’s bench was a key factor in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Wolves – and is hoping the club’s easing injury situation will help spark further improvement in the final two-and-a-half months of the season.

For big chunks of the campaign, Howe has struggled to cobble together 18 players for a matchday squad, such has been the extent of the Magpies’ injury issues. On a number of occasions this term, Newcastle’s bench has either been comprised almost exclusively of defenders or has featured a host of untried youngsters, not really ready for the demands of senior action.

That was not the case at the weekend, and when Wolves were starting to get a foothold in the second half of the game, Howe was able to take decisive action.

Harvey Barnes, Miguel Almiron and Lewis Miley all came on the 70th minute, and the trio helped Newcastle regain the initiative and dominate the closing stages.

“You’d have seen in previous weeks where we didn’t have the strength of the bench that we possibly wouldn’t have made changes and the game may have gone a different way,” said Howe. “I don't think you can underestimate the power of that.

“We always say internally how important everybody is within the squad, and to have a bench that you can turn to and have total faith in the ability of the players is massive.

“I have to say (in the past), it wasn’t a question of me questioning the quality of the players we had, we just had a bench full of defenders, which is never ideal and the balance wasn't right. To have the attacking players - who are the ones that you want to be changing – has been huge.”

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The other benefit of having a strong substitutes’ bench is that you can withdraw players in the second half of a game for their own protection.

Alexander Isak and Joe Willock have both returned to the starting side in recent weeks, but they are yet to play a full 90 minutes, with Howe keen to restrict their minutes in order to guard against the risk of an injury recurrence.

Earlier in the season, senior players were having to play for the whole of a game even if they were only just returning from injury.

“That's an absolutely critical thing,” said Howe. “We were well aware that when we were in the period when we were leaving players on the pitch, that then increases the risk of injury again.

“So, we were stuck in a really difficult cycle of players getting injured and not having an alternative player to play and then getting more injuries.

“It was a cycle we couldn't break until we got some players back, and thankfully we have. Now, we can manage Joe Willock's weeks like we have this week, we can take Alex off when he's had enough.

“And also, there's competition for places, you can't put a price on that. A player knows that if he's not playing well, he's going to get taken off and we were missing that for a long, long time. That's probably the biggest tool I have to get performances out of players.”