The young Magpies took an early lead at Eppleton Colliery Welfare through Luke Charman's penalty after Fernández, a constant threat on the left wing, was bundled over inside the area by Bali Bumba.

Sunderland were then reduced to ten men following Brandon Taylor's dismissal before the break and, in the second half, Fernández turned from provider to goalscorer as the Spaniard fired home from close range to complete a deserved victory on Wearside.

The 21-year-old told nufc.co.uk: "The squad feel great after getting the win and beating our rivals. We all know that playing against Sunderland is a game we have have to win. I'm very happy for all of the team because we put in a good performance.

"Going one-nil up quite early was very important to get our confidence up. I just tried to complete some step-overs and beat the right-back and I got past him. He pushed me from the back and I thought it was a definite penalty.

"The red card changed the game completely. It gave us a great advantage, especially when they were already one goal down.

"It made it quite easy for us because we could have the possession of the ball when they had ten men, which made it really tough for our opponents.

"We had plenty of opportunities to try and score and I think we may need to be more clinical but, in the end, we got the win which is the important thing so we'll move onto the next one.

Last term, Fernández suffered a heel injury in August 2018 before a hip problem resulted in the winger missing the remainder of the previous campaign.

And after the Barcelona-born forward impressed against the Black Cats with a goal and assist, Fernández is hopeful Newcastle's youngsters can build on a positive away victory against their local rivals.

"I had a good chance which was cleared off the line but I still believed that I could score a goal," he said.

"I've been out with an injury for such a long time so I can take a lot of confidence from scoring. I always want to play as well as possible and if I can provide assists and goals for the team, that is always great for me and gives me that extra boost.

"I was taken off after scoring but it was just a cramp I picked up. It was nothing too serious and I preferred to be substituted because the game was nearly won. I didn't want to take too much risk.

"In the league, we aren't doing as well as we'd like to but winning against Sunderland should give us plenty of confidence going into the next few games and hopefully we can build on that and try to win some more matches."