EDDIE HOWE is hoping Newcastle United’s 2-1 win over Tottenham helps draw a line under a difficult end to the transfer window by providing a valuable reminder of the quality within the Magpies squad.

It has been a fraught fortnight on Tyneside with an unsuccessful pursuit of Marc Guehi meaning the transfer window closed without Newcastle being able to sign a new centre-half. Despite targeting a wide attacker for most of the summer, the Magpies also opted against making a late move for another forward last week.

Howe admits the summer was “challenging”, but despite the problems, his side have made a successful start to the new campaign.

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Yesterday’s win over Spurs, which came courtesy of goals from Harvey Barnes and Alexander Isak, means the Magpies have picked up seven points from their opening three matches, with Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win at Nottingham Forest also setting up a winnable third-round tie at AFC Wimbledon.

“It was a massive win, wasn’t it,” said Howe, when asked to reflect on the importance of his side’s victory over Spurs. “You need to win at any stage, but I think when there's difficult moments – and this transfer window has been tough for us – then it's even more important because it just enables you to see things clearly and to move forward with positive momentum.

“Hopefully, we can do that. It was a tough game, but we found a way to grind out a win and hopefully those are good signs for the rest of the season.

“We know that most transfer windows are shut, so it gives us some stability and a lot of the off-field talk can hopefully disappear and we can focus on the pitch and the players that matter, and we can try to get ourselves in a really good place.

“Hopefully, this will give us confidence and the ability to see ourselves as a very good team, one that can get better and improve as the season goes on.”

Having dug deep to see off Southampton with ten men on the opening weekend of the season, Howe’s side once again had to display resilience and commitment against Spurs.

Newcastle have lacked fluency in all of their matches so far this season, but Howe has been delighted with the way in which his players have nevertheless found a way to secure a string of positive results.

“I don’t think we're playing as we would like,” he admitted. “I think that's obvious. I don't think we're playing with enough control, I don't think we're playing with enough composure.

“But what we are showing is the defensive and aggressive qualities that you need. I have to say we're defending very well. When you look at how much ball Tottenham had around our box, I thought the back four and in particular Nick (Pope) were magnificent in repelling their threat, they made some really good defensive actions.

“But on the ball, I think we've got a lot of work to do. Our attacking play has not kicked into rhythm yet. But in saying that, I still thought we could score at any stage of the game (against Spurs).”