Barnes and Murphy also featured when Newcastle tasted defeat against Everton in the Premier League under former head coach Eddie Howe back in February.

But this was a drastically different starting line-up following a summer of change on Tyneside.

Eight of the starters were aged 25 and under while Joelinton, who wore the captain’s armband, and Yoane Wissa were the oldest by a considerable distance at 29.

Newcastle still have important figures like Dan Burn, Lewis Miley and Tino Livramento to return – albeit the trio are unlikely to all feature in the season opener versus Liverpool – but this squad clearly needs further reinforcements in the transfer market.

That won’t come as news to sporting director Ross Wilson, who was among those watching on at Murrayfield on Wednesday night, or Jaissle.

It was rather telling that the German again referenced a “vacuum” for the second time in two days following the departures of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier earlier this summer.

“You cannot change things really quickly,” he said. “It’s a really young team at the moment so there are vacuums where players need to step up.

“We fill these positions we lost with the experienced players, but that’s also the process.”

Newcastle remain in the market for a right-back, an older central midfielder and, depending on Jaissle’s assessment of the squad, potentially another addition beyond that before the window shuts on 1 September.

There are still a couple of friendlies to play before Liverpool visit St James’ Park next week, but there is little time to waste.

“If you make new signings at the end of the transfer window, they usually need time,” Jaissle added. “Usually it takes time to adapt to the Premier League.

“Those are all things we consider, but we are all still positive. We all want to go in the right direction.

“We have these goals and there’s many stones along the way thrown in that path, but we need to get rid of them.”

Malawi’s success at an expanded 16-team tournament in Morocco is proving that women’s football in Africa has the potential to grow beyond the traditional big names.

Excluding the inaugural edition in 1998, they are the first debutant to reach the final.

But having already booked their place at next year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil, courtesy of their run to the last four, the Scorchers are now on the verge of something very special – and anything looks possible with the Chawinga sisters firing on all cylinders in attack.

With Tabitha helping OL Lyonnes to another French title last season, and with Temwa winning a second golden boot and MVP award with NWSL side Kansas City Current, there was plenty of hype ahead of this campaign.

All of it now appears justified as the sisters have scored eight of their team’s 12 goals – with five for Temwa and three for Tabitha – and appear to have a level of pace, power and positional awareness which opposition defences struggle to cope with.

Tabitha’s opener in this match will be remembered for a long time.

When Asimenye Simwaka, who just two weeks ago was running in the 200m and 400m semi-finals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, headed a corner back into the middle of the penalty area, the elder Chawinga looked to pose little danger given she had her back to goal.

But the 30-year-old twisted to apply a clever left-footed overhead kick which beat Algeria goalkeeper Chloe N’Gazi but not the crossbar.

As N’Gazi also twisted to avoid being struck by the ricochet, she probably thought she would be able to collect the ball on the bounce, but the backspin meant it could only end up in the back of the net.

Belkhiter’s red card, which had come midway through the first half, had looked harsh, even if replays clearly showed the defender catching Tabitha on the back of the heel.

The challenge came a long way from goal and Belkhiter’s team-mate Roselene Khezami, who was challenging from Chawinga’s other side, did get something on the ball as she lunged in at the same time.

Temwa Chawinga took advantage of the numerical advantage to round N’Gazi and stroke home to make it 2-0, but Kadzere’s deserved red card shortly after opened the door to the North Africans.

The Malawi midfielder just about made contact with the top of the ball before going over the top and catching Marine Dafeur above the ankle.

The challenge, however, came inside the Algeria penalty area and was totally unnecessary.

Algeria’s Melissa Bethi and Temwa Chawinga both missed glorious opportunities inside the opening minutes of the second period before Adjabi’s strike on the hour.

Two Malawi defenders made a mess of dealing with Dafeur’s deep free-kick, allowing the forward to fire back across goal on the volley to half the deficit.

Both sides looked to be running out of steam before Tabitha Chawinga settled the contest with her second goal, driving into the penalty area almost unchallenged to side-foot home from just outside the six yard box.

Ranked 153rd in the world, Malawi have taken Wafcon by storm.

One final hurdle remains and, on this form, the Chawinga sisters will feel anyone is beatable in the final.