The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Winger with hammer in his boots was magnificent against Moyes’ men
WE’RE still alive. Thank the gods. Send for Houdini. Again. Get the prayer mat out. Again!
Just when the door seemed to be slammed shut on Europe and double bolted came the greatest of great fightbacks.
Let me recall, just to make certain it actually happened. Newcastle 3-1 down a couple of minutes after halftime. Hope abandoned. No sign of Lady Luck or sympathy. Balloons pricked.
Three players to go off injured, two subs subbed. Travelling fans taunting battered Geordies. But wait... United win 4-3 despite being reduced to 10 men. One of their biggest heroes Anthony Gordon, winner of two penalties, sent off.
Harvey Barnes, who has been seen as often as Lord Lucan riding Shergar down Northumberland Street, sensationally scores both the equaliser and winner. Super cool Eddie Howe loses it roaring down the touchline like a demented Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford eventually gets himself booked. Have I missed anything out? I must have, so much occurred.
I had said pre-match in both print and podcast that Newcastle had to win to have any chance of making Europe’s lower reaches. Well, they did against all odds imaginable. Now they must somehow get a team out and beat
Everton tomorrow night without Gordon. Minimum requirement. It is not over yet but it could have been. And let us be realistic it probably will be without another home triumph.
This was electric, incredible, wonderful mayhem, early on frightening in its stark reality. United are as brittle as a chocolate fireguard but as defiant as a cornered bear. They cannot keep expecting to win when conceding goals by the bucket load but they always have a chance with their spirit and forward power.
Let us look at the positives. It is not a day to fail to doff the cap to those who created the ultimate excitement which had the spine tingling.
Barnes was truly magnificent. A breath of fresh air. A man with a hammer in his boots. The best Harvey since Joe in the fifties and sixties!
Gordon, player of the season, created two penalties through his own ability and cleverness otherwise a comeback would never have been on.
I had asked in my Friday column for Alexander Isak to make a huge effort to become United’s first player since Alan Shearer two decades ago to score 20 in a season and he duly obliged moving on to 18 with a couple of pressure penalties struck against two different keepers. He also produced an exquisite assist for Barnes’ equaliser.
Then there were the other subs – Elliot Anderson and Lewis Hall as well as Barnes injected a freshness and lift to a worryingly predictable and sterile performance. If United are to lose players to injury with Everton coming up so quickly then let us start all three. I’ll accept that and so will every exhilarated Geordie.
Dan Burn looked better for me tucked in at left-sided centre-half, his true position, in a rejigged back four.
I have no wish to dwell upon it but in the first 70 minutes when United were distinctly iffy I felt Martin Dubravka was vulnerable as he has been recently while Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock were poor, drained of confidence and va-va-voom. Injuries have done them no favours. A problem to be faced.
Once we settle down after an exhilarating performance the reality is that the three points only count if another three come against Everton who have failed to win in their last 12 PL matches. Of course the loss of Gordon is a huge blow while injuries also threaten the team that Howe can put out.
However at this stage of the season it is all about adrenaline, emotion, desire, interaction with the crowd. Problems don’t matter. Only solutions do and passion can overcome a lot.
I have to say I have never enjoyed myself as much on a March 30 since exactly 50 years ago to the very day Supermac scored the two goals that destroyed Burnley 2-0 in the semifinal of the FA Cup to take us to Wembley.
That was 1974 and here he was sitting next to me in the press box when he was introduced to the crowd on the big screen at half-time to take a bow in recognition. West Ham had just gone 2-1 up seconds before to dampen the mood and within three minutes of the resumption were 3-1 ahead.
It was depressingly ominous but three quarters of an hour later the sun was shining and Geordies were in heaven. Just as we were at Hillsborough half a century ago.