Obafemi Martins, Michael Owen and Mark Viduka netted as Newcastle beat visitors Reading 3-0 for a third consecutive Premier League win.The three points all but ends the Magpies' relegation fears, as they stand 12 points clear of the drop zone in 12th place.
Such has been the turnover of managers at St James' Park in recent years that the three men were signed by different managers, with Graeme Souness landing Real Madrid star Owen in a £17million deal, Glenn Roeder paying Inter Milan £10million for Martins and Sam Allardyce recruiting Viduka on a free transfer from Middlesbrough last summer.
But each demonstrated his potency on an afternoon when the quality in front of goal was the difference between the two sides.
Martins set the ball rolling with 18 minutes gone and Owen made it 2-0 just before the break, although Reading could have been forgiven for feeling hard done by after more than playing their part in the opening 45 minutes.
However, Viduka's 58th-minute strike capped a dominant start to the second half by the home side and the points were safe, much to the delight of the home fans among a crowd of 52,179.
Keegan's assertion as his wait for a first win since his return to Tyneside stretched to nine games was the club had the firepower to get themselves out of trouble whatever else the limitations of the squad he inherited from Allardyce.
But it was the bold decision to field Owen, Martins and Viduka in a three-pronged frontline as the club slid worryingly down the league table that has proved to be their salvation.
Between them the trio have now contributed eight of their side's 10 goals in a four-game unbeaten run, which has dragged the club out of trouble.
Having seen their side dismiss Tottenham with their best performance of the season at White Hart Lane last Sunday, the home fans turned up hoping to witness the rout of a team for whom victory on Tyneside would have sent them leapfrogging over their hosts.
By the time referee Lee Probert's whistle marked the end of the opening 45 minutes they would have been happy enough with the scoreline - but eternally grateful for the quality of Martins and Owen.
In truth, Reading had the better of large portions of the first half as a defence missing Steven Taylor, who was ruled out just before kick-off with a stomach bug, looked shaky in the face of a concerted onslaught from the Royals.
With John Oster and Stephen Hunt providing width and Kevin Doyle and Dave Kitson pulling their markers all over the place, the visitors threatened repeatedly without ever really testing keeper Steve Harper.
Their inability to do so was brought into sharp focus by events at the other end of the pitch where the Magpies made the most of a handful of openings with some stunning finishing.
The game was 18 minutes old when Martins, who scored a fine individual goal at Spurs, chested Nicky Butt's driven pass around Liam Rosenior and rounded Andre Bikey before calmly slotting his ninth goal of the season past Marcus Hahnemann.
Owen perhaps should have added his name to the scoresheet eight minutes before the break when, after Viduka had dummied Joey Barton's cross, he shot just over.
However, he made no mistake six minutes later, spinning away from his marker to meet Habib Beye's pass and lift the ball over the advancing keeper to take his tally for the campaign to 10.
Newcastle's intention to end the game as a contest as quickly as possible was evident from the moment they returned as Keegan's men pinned the visitors back deep inside their own half.
Rosenior had to get in an important block to deny Owen his second goal of
More Football News from TEAMtalk
