Switched on Shelvey dashes dozy Blades
SHEFFIELD UNITED stopped, Newcastle’s Jonjo Shelvey and referee Stuart Attwell carried on, the pair of them ignoring the offside flag to merrily skip through on goal.
It was a bizarre sight, Shelvey stroking past a motionless Dean Henderson, the scorer’s nearest and only pursuer being Attwell.
The Blades waited for the goal to be disallowed. A formality, they presumed. We all did. Assistant Derek Eaton had shot his flag in the air a split-second after Andy Carroll had headed Shelvey clear.
But then, with the VAR check complete and replays having forecast the unfolding controversy, the goal was awarded. Newcastle were 2-0 up with less than 20 minutes to go. The decision was correct, both Carroll and Shelvey were onside.
That, though, was of little consolation to the home side. There was always a danger this would happen, an assistant referee falling victim to habit and failing to follow the protocol of keeping their flag down in such tight calls.
It meant the home defenders gave up in chase of Shelvey and Henderson’s attempt to keep out the midfielder’s effort was half-hearted at best.
Blades boss Chris Wilder was furious, saying: ‘We were told at the start of the season, the linesman will not put his flag up.
‘Everyone stopped. The ggame has changed. This iss a new game, it is a completely etely different game to the he one I am used to o experiencing.
‘ This game in a heartbeat has changed and I don’t know where it is going. It is sucking the life out of me and the supporters.’
Shelvey tapped his s head as he jogged back ck to halfway. He was right, ght, he had been smartart in playing to the whistle and reaped the reward.
‘I have to say well done to Jonjo and the referee,’ said Newcastle boss Steve Bruce. ‘ The big decision has gone our way. If you are Chris you are pulling your hair out, but it was the right decision.
‘The directive is to carry on to the whistle. The question is, why did the linesman have to puput his flag up?’ The perceived injustice drained the home side’s spirit and so it was that Bruce’s men joined their opponents on 119 points. The Magpies rode their luck and much of the credit goes to goalkeeper Martin Dubravk for keeping them in the game. ‘His saves were world class,’ added Bruce. It was something of a mystery how they led at the break after £16million winger Allan SaintMaximin netted his first for the club. Bruce, though, had been bold in his decision to drop Joelinton, the £40m record signing who had scored just once all season.
Included from the off for the first time in nine years for his hometown club was Carroll and, while his assist for Shelvey’s gameclincher reminded us of his value at the top end of the pitch, it was his defensive work which contributed more to this victory — and how they needed that resistance.
Both sides were applauded off at half-time — the visitors in recognition of their lead, the hosts in appreciation of their dominance.
The Blades had 75 per cent of possession in the opening period and they had done plenty with it.
Wilder reflected: ‘I’m OK with the performance. That is the most we have dominated any team in the Premier League from a possession point of view.’
The reason they trailed at the break was because of one man — Dubravka. Before Saint-Maximin’s opener he had twice maintained parity with fine saves from Enda Stevens and Oli McBurnie.
And so it was that Newcastle scored with their first attack. How Carroll would have loved to be on the end of Javier Manquillo’s delivery from the right, hung towards the edge of the six-yard area.
Not that Carroll was needed, for Saint-Maximin morphed from livewire winger into bruising frontman. He leapt above John Egan, flattening the defender in the process of heading into the bottom corner.
It is unfortunate for the Frenchman that he has found himself readily referenced as one third of the Premier League’s most impotent strikeforce. Before this game, he, Joelinton and Miguel Almiron had scored one goal between them from 38 appearances this season.
That statistic masks Saint-Maximin’s level of influence: without him in the starting XI, Newcastle have taken only two points.
Rivalling him for impact has been Dubravka. He ensured the Magpies maintained their advantage with saves from McBurnie and Ollie Norwood before the late VAR drama stole the headlines.