Newcastle 'moving in the right direction' after Burnley victory, insists Howe

Eddie Howe insisted Newcastle United are "moving in the right direction", despite being forced to hold on for victory against 10-man Burnley.

The Magpies were 2-1 winners at St James' Park, where Bruno Guimaraes opened the scoring directly from a corner, while Anthony Gordon doubled the lead from the penalty spot before half-time.

Burnley were reduced to 10 men during the opening period, with last-man Lucas Pires shown a straight red card on his first Premier League start after bringing down Anthony Elanga.

Despite the numerical advantage, though, Newcastle could not add to their lead, which was reduced when Zian Flemming scored a 94th-minute penalty, while Josh Laurent almost headed a dramatic equaliser right at the death.

Howe conceded he expected a better performance from his players, but believes things are on the up for the Magpies, who have collected 10 points from their last four matches.

"It was a bizarre ending, because we looked like we were home at 2-0 up," he said.

"One goal can always change things and then the penalty happens. The extra man advantage then goes out of the window, and you have to see that bit out.

"It was a sluggish start. Bruno got us a goal from a corner, we went 2-0 up, and I was hoping for a really vibrant second half, but it didn't happen.

"We didn't do well in the right areas, we didn't do enough in the second half to break them down. Credit to Burnley and how they defended.

"It wasn't our best performance, but we got a win, and it's 10 points out of 12. We're moving in the right direction."

Yoane Wissa made his long-awaited Newcastle debut as a second-half substitute following his summer move from Brentford, and the Magpies' new number nine looked sharp upon his introduction.

"It's good for him, and it's good for us," Howe added. "There is a lot more to come from him. He's building his fitness up. It's good to give him some minutes today, and he'll benefit from that."

Meanwhile, Burnley have now lost each of their last six Premier League matches, equalling their longest losing streak in the division.

Scott Parker's side remain 19th in the table and four points from safety, but the Clarets boss thought there were plenty of positives in the visitors' display.

"It was an incredible performance from us," he said. "That was probably our best performance of the season.

"A lot of learning has been done over the course of the season and, today, how the dynamics of the game panned out, there were some hammer blows.

"We've had good performances, but at times, we have lacked a certain intensity to our game. We had to defend, we had to be gutsy, we got ourselves right back into the game, and had a chance [to equalise] as well.

"The biggest thing now is these players have set a bar [with this performance]. It's a young group that is developing. Today's performance is how I want us to look."