The Wolves are still right at Toon’s door
MAGPIES WASTE CHANCE TO EASE AGONY
IT was a weekend when Newcastle United turned their backs on a golden opportunity to ease the increasing pain of failure.
So the relentless agony goes on for every Geordie - United have now won just twice in their last 17 matches.
Yet what might have been will gnaw at the very soul of every Newcastle supporter.
United threw away a golden opportunity to beat Wolves while those in close proximity were offering up real hope.
First Brighton slumped to their second successive defeat, missing not one but two penalties at West Bromwich, and then Fulham failed to find the goal they desperately required to beat a submissive Crystal Palace.
So the gap between United and Scott Parker’s Cottagers remains three points as both black and whiters stumble towards the finishing line where they clash on the final day of reckoning.
This is not a resilient fight against dreadful luck but the prolonged agony of those incapable of rising to any occasion.
Oh, the Wolves are still at United’s door all right!
When on a slippery slope hurtling only one way, it is extremely hard to get a foothold and so boss Steve Bruce labours on with his particular brand of blind optimism.
Wolves came from behind yet again to gain their fifth successive 1-1 draw against the accommodating Mags.
Make no mistake, this was two points lost not a point gained.
Victory ought to have been theirs but was too easily sacrificed to heighten current anguish.
The Magpies were leading by a solitary goal having wasted multiple chances but were then forced to play the last half-hour without their three best players - all attackers.
Top scorer Callum Wilson was already sidelined on his 29th birthday by injury while Miggy Almiron was off by half-time and Allan SaintMaximin followed clutching his groin.
Those three confined to the care of the physios is a frightening thought as another mammoth match at West Brom looms this coming weekend.
The consequence of their absence was that Ruben Neves headed a killer equaliser on 73 minutes and the returning Martin Dubravka was forced to somehow shoulder a Fabio Silva header on to the woodwork and out for a corner with 92 minutesgone.
Areat save or the ball just hit him? Take your choice, just as you must on whether or not Dubravka ought to have kept out Neves’ effort.
His return was a mixed bag. Having been shunted into the sidings for 26 consecutive matches only interrupted by a solitary FA Cup outing last season’s Player of the Year was naturally rusty.
He will be all right given time to sharpen but time is one of the many things United don ot have.
To add to the overall scorn Newcastle proved to be embarrassingly amateurish when sending on their last substitute Matt Ritchie two before Wolves levelled.
The glaring lack of clear-cut instructions meant players were not sure who was supposed to be doing what and that angers fans who rightly expect professionalism to be a given.
Skipper Jamaal Lascelles voiced his concern at the mix-up on the final whistle while Bruce dumped on Ritchie for not conveying instructions quickly enough.
Whatever, the whole episode looks shocking for a club fighting for their lives.
Every relegation-threatened side has a bad luck story it hides behind but to ladle salt on to open wounds is absurd. United, in desperate need of three points, squandered chance upon chance to get them. With Wilson missing so is their cutting edge.
Isaac Hayden, Miggy Almiron, Joe Willock and Joelinton all blew giltedged opportunities which a team in dire straits simply cannot afford.
It was ironic Lascelles, a central defender, was the one to show how it is done with a bullet header from a good Ryan Fraser cross.
The fact Newcastle, Brighton and Fulham are all locked in an increasingly fraught fight for survival is down to one thing - none of them currently possesses a natural goalscorer. They fire blanks.
United have set a new pattern which unfortunately is being regularly displayed.
They begin well on the front foot, press highand go about their work with enthusiasm. However, chances are missed and they fail to win.
Graeme Jones has brought about more ambition but not a sustained 90 minute effort whichresults in maximum reward.
Until that changes pressure will mount and mount by the match.