Eddie Howe welcomed five new players to Tyneside last month but as impressively as three of them performed here Newcastle’s manager received a reminder that Allan Saint-Maximin remains the brightest light in his attacking firmament. The French winger’s extraordinary powers of improvisation and incision turned Frank Lampard’s Premier League debut as Everton manager into an uncomfortable night which leaves the Merseysiders on the edge of real relegation trouble. Thanks not only to Saint-Maximin but excellent performances from Howe’s new full-backs, the outstanding Kieran Trippier and Matt Targett, Newcastle won their third game of the season, hauling themselves out of the bottom three and up to 17th. Ominously for Lampard, Everton sit only one point and one place higher. The nights may be starting to get a little lighter but, whenever Jordan Pickford, touched the ball it felt as if the clock had been turned back to pantomime season. To Newcastle fans, villains do not come bigger than Everton’s former Sunderland goalkeeper and they subjected to him to some pretty relentless high-decibel booing. By way of variety, there were repeated, rather rude, choruses referring to his Wearside heritage but Pickford simply responded by reminding everyone that his kicking is very good indeed. Bar picking the ball out of the back of his net, Lampard’s goalkeeper did not have too much to do during a somewhat scrappy first half low on fancy footwork. If competitiveness and commitment were most certainly not lacking, the game cried out for a couple of central midfielders capable of controlling the tempo and shaping the play. It would have been wonderful to see Lampard roll back the years and show his Everton players precisely how to do it but in the absence of a time capsule capable of transporting him back more than a decade, Everton’s manager at least had his new signings Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli warming the bench. Alli stepped off it in the 25th minute, replacing the injured Demarai Gray but St James’ Park was more excited about the sight of Bruno Guimarães, Howe’s new £35m Brazilian from Lyon, warming up. As the ground echoed to chants of “Bruno, Bruno,” the scoring began, with two own goals registered in swift succession. First Jonjo Shelvey hacked the promisingly inventive Anthony Gordon down, conceding a free-kick. Gordon took it himself and when Alli redirected the ball out back into the box, Mason Holgate’s shot was blocked on the line by Fabian Schär only to end up deflecting in off Jamaal Lascelles. Briefly, Newcastle’s captain looked broken but redemption beckoned. When Joe Willock won a corner, Trippier delivered a defence deceiving dead ball and, although Lascelles’s header hit the bar, it rebounded off Holgate before flying past Pickford. By then Everton had been seriously weakened by an injury to Yerry Mina which saw the key right sided component of Lampard’s back three hobble off. Jarrad Branthwaite trotted on but his lack of experience showed as Chris Wood was allowed a free header. Despite Newcastle’s £25m centre-forward directing it, benignly, straight at Pickford, it was not long before Saint-Maximin crossed with menace. After connecting with that delivery the unmarked Joelinton would surely have scored had the former forward turned left-sided midfielder not got his feet in an awful tangle. Given that Joelinton’s eventual shot somehow ended up hitting him on the head it seems destined to become one of those comedic cameos used to liven up the “what happened next’ segment of televised quiz shows. No matter, Newcastle scored 10 minutes into the new half. Their second goal began with Alli’s forfeiture of possession prefacing another cross from Saint-Maximin and when Michael Keane’s failure to make a headed clearance left Pickford stranded, Ryan Fraser was in the right place at the right time to hook the dropping ball home. As Howe swivelled on his heels, pumped his fists and urged Newcastle fans to “come on” those home supporters yet again had reason to be grateful to Saint-Maximin. The French winger’s adhesive control in the tightest of areas had conjured Fraser’s first goal in a Newcastle shirt and, for all Howe’s £90m-plus January transfer market spend, Saint-Maximin remains the player most integral to his side’s survival chances. By the hour Lampard had been forced to use all three substitutes. Delighted as the “free Donny” campaigners must have been to see Van de Beek finally stripped for action and running onto the pitch as André Gomes’s replacement, the Manchester United loanee could have chosen an easier game in which to make his Everton debut. After so many weeks and months of being unfathomably overlooked by two managers at Old Trafford the Netherlands international was hurled into the deep end of a midfield war zone in which every 50-50 ball was contested with the utmost ferocity. Shortly after Wood correctly had a “goal” disallowed for offside, Fraser created the third for Trippier. When the one time Bournemouth winger’s dribble was rudely interrupted by Allan’s crude lunge, Trippier stepped forward to take the resultant 25-yard free-kick. Howe says he bought the England right back from Atlético Madrid last month as much for his crossing and dead-ball abilities as his defensive qualities. Sure enough Trippier vindicated such judgment by spotting a chink in Everton’s wall and leaving his stellar technique to do the rest. All that remained was for Guimarães to make a rapturously received 89th minute-debut on a night when a toe injury restricted Howe’s fifth January buy, Dan Burn to the bench.