Magpies must hold on to 'bright spark' Osula

[BBC]

[Getty Images]

It's nice to be writing something post-win. A slightly unfamiliar but pleasant feeling.

Thank you to Newcastle United for that. And thank you, too, to William Osula.

It looks like the ownership have made up their mind that Eddie Howe will be in charge next season - so we can stop talking about that, thank goodness. That leaves space to be positive and give kudos to the players that are going to make that possible for Howe.

Osula's transformation over the past year or so has been quietly very exciting. This is a player who seemed to me to be a good vibes guy - dancing and partying with the team when we won the cup (despite not having played in the game) as well as appearing on social media having fun with his teammates, but not really getting much game time.

In the summer, he was linked with two separate moves and it looked likely the club would be fine with his departure. Neither came to fruition, and where that might have dampened the resolve of a different type of player what we have seen in Osula is an incredible re-commitment. He has clearly been working on his pace and turning his raw talent into a more...cooked talent?

Yes OK, I can work on that description.

The point is that without Osula, his speed, and ability to be where he needed to be on Saturday to open the scoring, we wouldn't have had our first league win since mid-March.

We played with most of our established, older players on Saturday with the exception of Osula, who has clearly earned his spot in the team on merit.

It's hard to know what the summer will hold for Newcastle but if we can hold on to this bright spark we'd be all the better for it.

Find more from Charlotte Robson at the True Faith: Newcastle United Podcast