Livramento ensures Newcastle enjoy their day in the rain against Wolves | first division

As torrential rain cascaded on a cold Tyneside afternoon, it became increasingly easy to understand why Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Tourism believes holidays at its new Red Sea resorts will finally sell well in the north-east. from England.

If that grand project still seems a bit fanciful, the prospect of Eddie Howe delighting Newcastle's Saudi owners by taking their team on another European tour seemed far more realistic at 5pm on Saturday than it had two hours earlier.

When the final whistle blew, Newcastle had overtaken Wolves and moved up to eighth place in the standings. first division, very within reach of a place in the Europa League. Almost equally important, a first home win and a clean sheet in the league since mid-December went a long way toward restoring recently waning confidence in his defensive capabilities and in Howe's talents as a coach.

Congratulations to the impressive Fabian Schär for not only shining at centre-half but also helping create all three goals as the Swiss international showed his ability to unleash 50-yard passes to the feet that split the defence.

“There aren't many defenders like Fabian,” Howe said. “His biggest strength is the ball, but, defensively, he reads the game very well.”

After conceding 12 goals in their last four league games, Newcastle had become unusually cautious and seemed to be paying dividends. They were in full visiting team parking bus mode and this containment and counterattack approach managed to completely confuse their guests.

“It's a huge victory,” Howe said. “People say we only play one way, but today we changed things tactically and were a little more transitional. We were cute in certain situations. Towards the end of the game we saw confidence return. We look much better on defense.”

Despite enjoying plenty of possession in the first half, Wolves were evidently missing injured striker Hwang Hee-chan and, having failed to really hurt their hosts, found themselves two down at half-time.

As Schär and Anthony Gordon began a counterattack, the accelerating Alexander Isak was in the right place at the right time to head Bruno Guimarães' deflected cross past José Sá.

“Newcastle were very lucky there,” Wolves manager Gary O'Neil said. “But I am proud of our performance. We made a couple of big mistakes but we controlled a lot of the game. I know Eddie Howe and there is no way Newcastle are going to let us have the ball. The reason we had it is because we showed quality in it. “I thought our structure was better than theirs.”

That idea seemed a little hollow when Schär once again eased past the defense and Jacob Murphy crossed low from the right. When Sá and Max Kilman suffered a breakdown in defensive communication, the goalkeeper ended up deflecting the ball into Gordon's path and watching mortified as the winger swept the ball away.

With Gordon disrupting their defence, Guimarães playing well in central midfield and Joe Willock (all smart movement and dynamic athleticism alongside the Brazilian) showing how much he's been missed during a long injury layoff, the Wolves were up against it.

Although the visitors subsequently improved and Martin Dubravka made some decent saves in the second half, Newcastle rarely looked in danger of self-destructing.

To underline this point, Tino Livramento, replacing the injured Kieran Trippier, contributed a nice late solo goal. Urged on by Schär, he cut inside and sauntered past a trio of stray defenders as, despite the inclement weather, Newcastle suggested they may have left a gloomy winter behind them.