EDDIE HOWE was delighted with the way in which Newcastle United forward Anthony Gordon handled his return to Goodison Park during this evening’s 4-1 win over Everton.

Gordon completed a controversial move away from Merseyside in January in order to join the Magpies, and tonight’s game marked his first return to his former home.

Having been named as a substitute, he was booed heavily as he warmed up before kick-off and was jeered again when he eventually made it onto the field as a late substitute.

He seemed to take the occasion in his stride though, and made a couple of purposeful late surges forward to ensure Newcastle did lose their momentum.

Howe said: “I’m guessing here, but I’d imagine it was difficult for him. I had a chat with him at length yesterday, and I was confident that he would be able to handle the environment after speaking with him.

“I think it was a good time to bring him on, to almost get it out of the way for him really. It’s done now, and the game was pretty much done. I think it was a good thing for him to be able to mentally deal with, and he can hopefully move on now and focus on his career with us.”

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This evening’s win has opened up an eight-point gap to fifth-placed Aston Villa, and means Newcastle are in an extremely strong position to secure Champions League qualification with just six more games to go.

Howe said: “It puts us in a lot stronger position. I think we knew the difficulty of the previous two games we’ve had – Tottenham and Everton are two tough games at any stage of the season, so to get six points from that is a great return.

“We have another game this week (against Southampton), which will be equally as difficult, just in a slightly different way. It’s a quick turnaround, so we need to rest and make sure we go again.”