Wembley is just 14 miles from here, but, despite Newcastle's victory, this was light from where they will have to be if they are going to beat Liverpool in the Cábao Cup final on Sunday.
Eddie Howe will argue that the final is a new day and that your team will rise to the great occasion. He will also point out that this is an important victory in its own right, even if it was unpleasant, and it was that.
During the big part, it was like seeing a friendly preseason, only less the pleasant climate, and both teams were as guilty as the other. When does Premier League football begin, you wondered after an hour of goals and inaction without joy?
The head of England, Thomas Tuchel, was here, but he would have also been asking why. This felt like one to see from the couch in Germany, at least you can turn off a TV.
But Newcastle found a way to win thanks to a combination between the two best players in the game, Captain and scorer Bruno Guimaraes and the creator Harvey Barnes. The latter has probably played in the team before the final, but the possibilities of the first to lift the cup still seem unlikely.
If you were being kind to Newcastle, you would say they kept something in the tank for Sunday. If you were more realistic, you would say that the meter is too close to vacuum.
Not long ago, games began, especially far from home, with aggression, energy and intention. They were the teachers of his destiny. They beat Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal in a week in early January. Before this, only Southampton had been defeated on the road from the Premier League, and some of that was a fight.
Howe had hoped that the adversity of last week, the loss of Anthony Gordon to the suspension and Lewis Hall and Sven Botman to an injury, would generate a siege mentality among her players, bringing the team closer. Well, they almost crumbled within a minute.
The lady of Tomas Soucek was so early that I undoubtedly expected the water that was flowing was the wash on her howler. But this was too bad to forget. Newcastle's new defense, auditioning for Wembley, remained firm during the 45 seconds before Fabian Schar allowed Mohammed Kudus to cross from the left and the wild cleanliness of Tino Livramento was played in Soucek.
The Czech only had Nick Pope to beat from six yards. He hit the goalkeeper well, but also beat the crossbar and a few hundred people in the low ranks as well.
If this were Newcastle's final cup plan, you could not imagine that Mo Salah renounces that kind of generosity. Darwin Núñez, maybe. But Salah can expect: the most immediate concern was Kudus and Jarrod Bowen, who Drew save Pope before half an hour. Easy savings must be said, it must be said.
At the other extreme, Barnes made Alphense Areola work a little more difficult. The end turned an improvised film on the goal and did the same with a header from a corner, both repelled by the French goalkeeper. Areola wore a new mustache by Freddie Mercury and had the Boot-Polish Barnet to complete the appearance. That, however, was as close as the first half came to entertainment.
The game was there to take, but that depended on one of these sides that showed something good enough to take it. Isak wasolated and touched the ball only three times in the West Ham penalty area came the break. That count really felt excessive, given how little he had been involved.
Newcastle could not start the second half with such a lethargy, surely? That was correct: they began in even deeper discomfort. Kudus received space to free himself to the left and showed a ball through the goal mouth that deserved to be converted. It was in line with the shortage of ambition of West Ham that extended through an open green space absent from attackers and defenders, and this is where the action is intended to happen!
He said a lot about the contest that, when Newcastle was very close to scoring at the time, it was due to the Miskick of West Ham's defender, Max Kilman. To be fair, the Guimaraes ball for Jacob Murphy was a rare quality of quality that was well executed. The end focused and Kilman sent a clumsy spiral sliding to the upper corner, where Areola went to the claw before Isak turned out of the bounce.
The passage took visitors from his dream and, in two minutes, they had what turned out to be the winning goal. Barnes saw a blocked torn shot and, dissuaded by that effort, chose to cross when the ball landed at his feet. It was the correct call. Hanging a delivery over Kilman and placing it inside the six -yard area, Guimaraes slid to push home.
It was a goal and it was a victory, which returned to Newcastle to the sixth and leveled the points with Manchester City in fifth, but it was also a game that would have become comfortable watching for Liverpool, even if it were something more than for everyone else.