"It was our best performance – especially from an offensive point of view," Hughton told the Gazette.

"You can gain exactly the same reward from a dogged 1-0 at say Sheffield United, where we got bodies in the way, but, from a footballing point of view, that was almost perfect.

Read Miles Starforth's match report from St James's Park
One foot in the Premier League?

"The early goals were the platform for the victory. It's very unusual to be 3-0 up in the first 15 minutes against a team of that quality, and if that can't give you even more confidence to get more (goals), then nothing will.

"There is a trail of thought that you take your foot off the pedal, but we opened up our game, and had other chances on top of it."

"I was surprised that we went so far ahead and so quickly. They're a good side, and a hardened one at that.

"With Chopra's runs, and his goalscoring ability, we expected a tough game, but goals change games, and when you go ahead early, that's what can happen."

* South Shields Mags are running a bus to Tuesday's game at Derby County. It departs at 1.30pm. For bookings call Chris on 07730 508362.