Brentford (A) player ratings: If this was Bruno's last game for Newcastle he didn't half sign off in style

Newcastle United ended their seemingly endless 2023/24 campaign in style with a barnstorming 4-2 win at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium.

Goals from Harvey Barnes, Jacob Murphy, and Alexander Isak saw us 3-0 up at the interval, with Bruno Guimarães to the fore in a ruthless performance.

The Brazilian maestro grabbed the vital fourth himself after our black and white nerves were jangled by second-half strikes from Vitaly Janelt and Yoane Wissa.

Eddie Howe's side looked intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in a strangely subdued performance after the break but regrouped to seal a seventh-place finish.

Bruno led the way, but the excellent Lewis Hall pushed him hard for our 'Player of the Match' award and there were multiple other good showings from men in Saudi green.

Here's how we saw it from Nick Pope through to Paul Dummett, with a high of a perfect ten and a low of five.

This was a fully deserved win and a lovely end to a long old season

Serena Taylor/Newcastle United

Nick Pope – 7

Pope made a good save one-on-one from Toney in the ninth minute but looked unsure of himself at times, perhaps just because he hasn't played for so long. There wasn't anything he could do about their goals, but he made another big save from Toney in the second half.

Emil Krafth – 7

The Swede looks much more comfortable at right-back and put in a solid shift here, with most of Brentford's dangerous attacks coming down the opposite flank. He wasn't able to contribute much in attack, but he wasn't required to given how other players stepped up.

Fabian Schär – 7

He battled manfully with Toney from the first whistle and largely did a good job against the dangerous striker, though he wasn't quite at his imperious best. His quality in possession made a big difference in helping us to control large portions of the contest. He's been a miss.

Dan Burn (c) – 6

He was partly at fault for Brentford's first big chance of the game with a sloppy sideways pass for Hall that was seized upon by Mbuemo, but defended well for the rest of the first half. Things unravelled for him after the break, sadly, and he had a poor second period overall.

Lewis Hall – 9

Hall miscontrolled a poor pass from Burn to gift Brentford their first big chance of the game but made amends by setting the move away for the first goal with confidence playing out from the back. He grew and grew from there and should have won a second-half penalty.

Sean Longstaff – 6

His first half was most notable for a big defensive header from a dangerous set-piece. Still, he had the fewest touches of our front six and largely let the game pass him by. We hope to see much less of him in the Premier League 2024/25. Save him for the Conference League...

Bruno Guimarães – 10 ⭐️

Bruno got the assist for the opener with a lovely cross to find Barnes at the back post and also set up Isak for the third with a perfectly weighted through ball. However, the best was yet to come as he reacted quickly and finished cleverly with his left foot to seal the game.

Joelinton – 7

He missed an absolute sitter in the 11th minute when set up brilliantly by Isak, dragging his shot wide from eight yards, but returned the favour with a lovely through ball to make a big chance for the Swede a while later. Otherwise, this was a typically solid Joelinton display.

Jacob Murphy – 7

Murph took the second goal nicely, though the quality of Isak's assist made it almost impossible for him to miss. He also won the ball back well to set the move for the third goal away but failed to track Janelt for Brentford's first, slightly reducing his final rating.

Alexander Isak – 8

Isak set up our first chance with great work down the right to tee up Joelinton—who missed a sitter—and got a great assist for Murphy with a left-footed cross. He finished well for the third soon after but missed a huge chance for 4-0 just before half-time and then another at 3-1.

Harvey Barnes – 7

He was pretty anonymous in the contest but in classic Barnes style finished brilliantly for the opener with a placed header at the back post from Bruno's deep cross. He also made some good runs that were ignored by teammates and worked hard to support Hall in defence.

None of the substitutes made any impact but they didn't have to

Serena Taylor/Newcastle United

Miguel Almirón – 6

Although he didn't offer much incision he was tidy in possession and found a teammate with all 12 of his attempted passes.

Elliot Anderson – 5

Given a rare chance to impress on the left wing, he didn't offer much threat and seemed to run down blind alleys most of the time.

Kieran Trippier – 6

He was his typical tidy self in possession but wasn't tested much in his cameo, with the scoring already done by the time he arrived.

Callum Wilson – 5

On what might have been his final appearance he was slack with his touch and wasted a couple of opportunities to get a goal.

Paul Dummett – 6

Dummy got on right at the death for his farewell appearance. He's been a good servant but we can't say we'll miss him.

Next up for the Magpies is Tottenham in Melbourne

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We're all Manchester City fans next weekend then, eh? If they beat Manchester United in the FA Cup Final on Saturday we'll be in the Europa Conference League next season!

Before that, though, the players, staff, and executives are on a flight to Melbourne from London for an exhibition game with Tottenham on Wednesday at 10.45 a.m. BST.

It may be shown on NUFC TV, though nothing has been confirmed. Australian-only service '10 Play' and THFC's 'Spurs Play' are broadcasting it, though. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Howay the lads!