Newcastle 5-1 Cardiff: The Daily Mirror match report

Andy Carroll might persuade boss Chris Hughton to let him loose in the famous No.9 shirt after a swashbuckling audition that helped Newcastle to their biggest win of the season.

Hughton has tried to take the pressure off his strikers be refusing to allocate the jersey worn by legends Alan Shearer and Jackie Milburn, leaving it unfilled at the club for the first time since 1939.

But Carroll will fancy his chances after taking his tally to eight for the season, scoring twice and creating another as United stretched their lead at the top to six points.

In the process they set a club record of 15 games unbeaten in the league in front of 44.082 fans.

With all six of his January signings starting, Hughton will be delighted to end a patchy run with a resounding victory that will send a powerful message to the chasing pack.

On this evidence Hughton he appears to have bought well last  month to equip the club for promotion.

“This was the most enjoyable night of the season,” he said. “We expressed ourselves. To be 3-0 up in 15 minutes is unusual. Any pressure for the new players lifted. A very good performance.

“Fifteen unbeaten is an achievement. We have to maintain it.

“Andy Carroll is still a player of potential. He has ability in the air, good skills and has added goals to his game.

“He is potentially No.9 material, an old fashioned centre-forward.”

The fourth-placed Bluebirds came to St James’ Park on the back of four wins and as the top scorers in the Championship away from home, but were out of the game almost straight away.

Boss Dave Jones admitted: “We were sloppy. You can’t come here and given them a start. They have just spent five million on new players, we haven’t.

“We will be in and around it. We will win games, and sometimes get turned over unless we bring people in.”

Carroll opened the scoring on 137 seconds after new boy Fitz Hall and Kevin Nolan combined from a  Danny Guthrie corner to create a simple chance.

Three minutes later he thumped a shot against a post and saw the rebound whack into City defender Gabor Gyepes and into his own net.

With a quarter of an hour played, Newcastle already had the game tied up when Carroll claimed his second of the night.

City twice hit the woodwork before the break through  Ross McCormack’s sweet volley and a mis-hit cross from Adam Matthews.

But Toon substitute Peter Lovenkrands sealed victory with two second-half goals before Aaron Wildig grabbed an 89th-minute consolation for the Bluebirds.

Cardiff’s Stephen McPhail started his first game since November 1 following a course of radiotherapy after being diagnosed with stage one lymphoma. “He did well,” said Jones.