WE’RE NOT SAFE YET, INSISTS BRUCE
West Ham hit the self-destruct button and Newcastle tried their best to not make it a routine win over 10 men. But the outcome was huge for the North east side. If Newcastle’s fans want their club to be bought and mike ashley his £300million valuation met by potential buyers, they need to be in the Premier League. West Ham suffered from five minutes of madness which they may look back upon if they miss out on Champions League qualification. Craig Dawson was dismissed for two silly challenges, Issa Diop comically kicked the ball into his own goal and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski dropped a catch for Joelinton to make it 2-0. In the second half, Bruce decided to try to defend the lead. It backfired, with West Ham making it 2-2 through Diop and a Jesse Lingard penalty. But Joe Willock saved his manager’s blushes, scoring a minute after coming on to follow his recent late equaliser against tottenham.
Bruce could do with his side producing more of the football which was on show in the first half. the way Newcastle frustrated West Ham while breaking forward in numbers was impressive and again, allan saint-maximin was their best player. But he insists Newcastle are still focused on a fight for survival, saying: ‘I’ve always said it’s the accumulation of points, and 35, in my opinion, is not enough. so you won’t get me jumping and hollering at the moment.’ moyes said: ‘We made a couple of horrendous mistakes, which has not been like us, but we showed great character after half-time. the players put themselves in a position to be brave with the ball and how we decided to play. ‘We know we’ve lost a game we’d like to have won but we’ve got some big games to come and want to take them full on and give the same effort and commitment.’ NEWCASTLE (5-3-2): Dubravka 5.5; Murphy 6, Fernandez 6, Clark 5.5, Dummett 6, Ritchie 6; S Longstaff 6 (Willock 81min), Shelvey 6, Almiron 6; SAINT-MAXIMIN 7 (Wilson 64, 6), Joelinton 6 (Carroll 90). Subs not used: Gillespie, Gayle, Lewis, Hendrick, Krafth, Manquillo. Scorers: Diop 36 (og), Joelinton 41, Willock 82. Booked: Shelvey, Murphy. Manager: Steve Bruce 6.5 WEST HAM (3-4-1-2): Fabianski 5; Diop 5, Dawson 4, Ogbonna 5; Coufal 5.5, Noble 6 (Benrahma 75, 6), Soucek 6, Johnson 6 (Fredericks 90+5); Fornals 5.5; Bowen 5.5, Lingard 6 (Lanzini 87). Subs not used: Martin, Trott, Balbuena, Yarmolenko, Alves, Coventry. Scorers: Diop 73, Lingard 80 (pen). Booked: Dawson. Sent off: Dawson. Manager: David Moyes 6. Referee: Kevin Friend 6.5.