Toon were two up inside 25 minutes but Sam Vokes pulled one back, but it was not enough for the Clarets who have won just two league games all season
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NEWCASTLE finally ended their Monday Night Football curse - but Matt Ritchie will not want to watch a replay.
The Toon had lost the last TEN times they had appeared on Sky Sports’ flagship show.
But Rafa Benitez’s boys broke their six-year jinx last night - despite red-faced Ritchie’s miss of the season.
Newcastle surged into an early two-goal lead through Ben Mee’s own goal and stand-in skipper Ciaran Clark’s header.
And Ritchie should have finished Burnley off after Sam Vokes gave the hosts hope, only to somehow slash into the side netting from two yards when he had an open goal.
Still, the Scot’s blushes were spared as the Toon clung on to register their third win on the spin and their first on the road this season.
It lifted Newcastle four points clear of the bottom three, but left Burnley deeper in the relegation mire.
The Clarets are only a point and a place above the drop zone and are without a win in six games, having only triumphed once at Turf Moor all term.
And after last season’s sensational seventh-place finish, this is turning into a long slog for Sean Dyche’s side.
They hardly helped themselves last night with their inability to defend two straight-forward set-pieces.
Last night’s kick-off had been delayed by half-an-hour after referees’ assessor Eddie Wolstenholme collapsed in the tunnel and was rushed to hospital.
But the visiting Toon Army only had to wait another four minutes before they saw their resurgent side take the lead.
Chris Wood only half headed away DeAndre Yedlin’s cross from Ritchie’s short corner, with Kenedy picking up the pieces on the edge of the box.
