When Chris Wood left St James’ Park for Nottingham Forest in January, there were few murmurs of complaint from the Newcastle faithful. If anything, the striker was seen as something of a joke.

The joke was very much on his former employers on Boxing Day when he returned to score a hat-trick and shatter a home record that had seen them win seven league games in a row, conceding only one in the process.

Things looked very different after 20 minutes when Alexander Isak converted from the penalty spot having been fouled by Ola Aina. It was soft, in the grey area of not being a “clear and obvious error.” Had it not been given, VAR would likely not have overturned that decision either.

Just as the fourth official indicated three minutes of injury time, Miguel Almiron had the chance to make it 2-0. He dithered, crossing when he should have shot, and suddenly Morgan Gibbs-White was powering through the centre of the pitch leaving a trail of black-and-white shirts in his exhaust fumes. He found Anthony Elanga on the overlap, who pulled back from the goal-line for Wood, giving the former Newcastle player a simple tap-in.

“Scoring just before half-time was huge for us,” said Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo. “It changes everything.”

Just eight minutes in to the second half, Wood grabbed his second. Showing good feet for a big man, he danced past Dan Burn, whose legs seemed to have turned to spaghetti, before dinking the ball neatly over Martin Dubravka. It was no less than Wood, or an increasingly confident Forest, deserved.

On the hour-mark, he grabbed his third, running on to a through ball from Murillo and walking round the on-rushing Dubravka for an easy finish into an empty net. Wood managed just five goals in his 35 games for Newcastle, here he grabbed three inside 16 minutes.

"We weren’t quite at our best today,” said Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, “and in the Premier League when you’re not, you get punished.” Despite their strong home form, Newcastle have now lost six of their last seven in all competitions.

It was also the last of 10 games in 30 days. While Howe lamented the lack of time to prepare in that period, he had no criticism for his squad. “It’s been an intense period and the players have given me everything I’ve asked for physically.”