Declan Rice gave honourable mentions to Felipe Anderson and Robert Snodgrass after a victory he hopes will really set the team on its way this December.
The 19 year old had special reasons for wanting a big result at St James Park where he had previously experienced the biggest of highest and lowest of lows of his fledgling career
Before heading into the match he said that the Under 23s promotion to Premier League Division One under his captaincy was a fabulous memory but being hooked at half time when promoted to the first team under Slaven Bilic was as low as it gets.
Saturday of course was very different as he arrived as not only a first team regular but a very serious member of the team such has been his amazing progress since that worrying start.
The performance by a nearly new squad on Saturday banished memories of that awful second appearance at the ground .
And the smile on his face after the goals spoke more than a million words but he gave his usual excellent appraisal of a game which saw us meet a team that had taken nine points from its last three games with all the pundits predicting defeat.
Speaking to www.whufc.com he said: “Saturday was a massive, massive result for us. It was the first game of December when we’ve got seven tough fixtures and that sets us up nicely for Cardiff on Tuesday.
“I think it could have been five or six with the amount of chances we missed as well, but fair play to Chicha, he scored two and Felipe was a threat all day and he got the third to put the icing on the cake.
“It’s nice to know you’ve got wingers like Felipe who can take the pressure off and Snoddy on the other wing who adds a different dimension by coming inside. Both of them were outstanding.”