Michael Owen was on the scoresheet again as Newcastle took a huge stride towards Barclays Premier League safety with victory over Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

Kevin Keegan's men fell behind to Darren Bent's opener but goals from Nicky Butt and Geremi put the visitors ahead before Owen scored his third in as many games for his club.

Obafemi Martins added a fourth with eight minutes remaining, latching onto Joey Barton's pass and finishing calmly to seal the points.

It took Newcastle into the relative comfort of 12th place, and with 35 points they can almost start looking towards next season.

Managers towards the wrong end of the table say that back-to-back wins get teams out of trouble and Keegan has now provided that in style.

He waited two months for his first and now, like buses, two have come in quick succession.

The first came against a woeful Fulham side last week but this one, despite Spurs having little to play for, took character to come from a goal behind to turn it around and send the Newcastle fans home jubilant. "Keegan is our king," they sang.

Keegan had never met Spurs boss Juande Ramos but there were plenty of reunions elsewhere between the two teams, with Newcastle assistant boss Chris Hughton returning to his former club and Dennis Wise in the directors' box gesturing to his close friend Gus Poyet on the Spurs bench.

Jonathan Woodgate welcomed the Newcastle staff he worked with at St James' Park - then almost gifted his former side a fifth-minute opener.

His careless clearance went as far as Habib Beye, who composed himself in the penalty area but cracked his finish off the crossbar.

In Newcastle's bright opening, Paul Robinson was called into action to stop Martins' low drive when he found a yard of room on the edge of the box.

It was an easy save from Robinson, but there was nothing straightforward about his stop to deny Barton, who angled a drive towards the bottom corner after Spurs failed to deal with a throw.