Alexander Isak's hat-trick allows Newcastle to overcome Ipswich | first division

Sir Bobby Robson loved both clubs but, in his first first division reunited since his demise, it was Newcastle whose exhibition would have made the old master's eyes shine. A second four-goal victory in the space of a week suggests that, even allowing for their rival's failings, they are in top form. More severe tests will come but, as announcements of his attacking gifts go, this was enough to make Geordie's mouth water over Christmas.

In Alexander Isak they have one of the most exciting talents out there and possibly the most varied finisher in the division. It doesn't always fit for the Swede, but here a hat-trick, the first by a Newcastle player in five and a half years, was achieved with the panache of a player at the top of his game. Isak has scored nine goals in his last nine top-flight games; When on Song, Eddie Howe's team feels capable of anything.

“He's a world-class talent,” Howe said. “He has that coolness and composure in front of goal that very few forwards have. When you add how fast he is and how technically talented he is, for me he has it all.”

He was certainly given the platform to prove it. Put bluntly, it was men against boys. It was Ipswich's heaviest defeat in a season in which almost everyone has come close and if this proves things are worse at Portman Road then perhaps their relegation battle won't be so bad. But they were barely involved in heavy rain, beyond an improved 10-minute spell before Jacob Murphy struck in Newcastle's second goal, and a productive January transfer window looks essential to the chances of a team whose thinness was exposed here.

The tone was set on 26 seconds when, after a long pass from Fabian Schär sent Murphy past Cameron Burgess, Ipswich failed to clear the resulting cross and Isak fired a shot past Aro Muric. The flag was raised for what appeared to be an offside against Murphy, but the VAR finally guessed that he had timed his dart correctly. It was no way for the home team to start, but Newcastle were able to enjoy eliminating them from there.

More could have quickly followed, Anthony Gordon missing a header and Isak letting Muric save when he was clean. Ipswich blinked when Martin Dubravka had to block Sammie Szmodics, but many of their brightest moments were dulled by Sandro Tonali, who was impeccable in Newcastle's midfield. Just after the half-hour mark, Murphy, a Norwich academy graduate who enjoyed the entire time, finished emphatically after Gordon crossed the box and the result was essentially set.

“We have to learn lessons and learn them very quickly,” said Kieran McKenna, who felt his players' game management had been inadequate. Instead of regrouping, they opened up and attacked, but only one team present was going to win an attacking penalty shootout. He saw it as a bigger problem than the form of Newcastle's third goal, which came when Muric put Jens Cáculo in a tight spot and saw Bruno Guimarães get a toe in, giving Isak an unmissable chance.

Some sectors of the local fans expressed their discontent at half-time. It is an extremely rare occurrence at McKenna's Ipswich and the context in which they were operating could not be appreciated. If facing the might of a national state-funded opponent wasn't enough, they were left without a fully fit centre-forward following Liam Delap's suspension and George Hirst's mid-term injury. That meant that Szmodics, a dynamic attacking midfielder, was tested in attack, but they lacked the physicality to threaten and Muric had no real outball.

In the end, those who remained spoke louder and more defiantly. It had long since become an afternoon to make the most of, Isak powering a nifty fourth with no reverse after Murphy's backheel. “I'm surprised it took me this long to get a hat-trick,” smiled Howe. Murphy's recent reactivation was another element that pleased the coach later. Gordon and Joe Willock could have added more, but Newcastle could be left with four.

In the two hours before kick-off, queues had formed outside the statue of Robson, wrapped in a scarf half and half for the day, which stands behind the east stand here. A helpful butler thanked those waiting for photographs. What would Robson have thought of the defeat that followed? “I think he would have been proud of the efforts of both teams,” Howe said. Only Newcastle, however, could leave feeling optimistic.