A NERVY NIGHT AT THE SUMMIT
THE chasing pack proved they won’t let Newcastle and Brighton have it all their own way as goals flew in by the bucketload last Tuesday.
While the Magpies and Seagulls were both held to draws, the teams in the play-off places all won to close the gap on the pacesetters. Table-topping Newcastle had to work hard to earn a point at Norwich – even after netting a 23second opener through Ayoze Perez.
The Canaries, in seventh, fought back well from that early blow. Jacob Murphy and Cameron Jerome were on target as Alex Neil’s men turned the tables to take a 2-1 lead after just 17 minutes, cashing in on defensive errors.
Just when it looked as though Norwich would gain revenge for their heartbreaking 4-3 defeat at St James’ Park earlier this season, Newcastle levelled through skipper Jamaal Lascelles with nine minutes left.
Responded
Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez said: “We had a great start with the early goal. But we made some mistakes and we gave them the belief that they could get a result.
“We needed to react and the way the players responded in the second half was brilliant.”
Brighton missed the chance to take top spot, drawing 1-1 at home against Ipswich. Luke Chambers gave the visitors a shock early lead, but Tomer Hemed levelled from the spot just before the half-hour.
The rest of the top six took advantage of the top two’s slip-ups by earning maximum points on a night when 42 goals were netted in 11 games.
Third-placed Huddersfield continued their fine run with a hard-fought 3-2 victory at rock-bottom Rotherham.
Semi Ajayi and Tom Adeyemi twice gave the Millers the lead, but Huddersfield levelled things up with goals from Joe Lolley and Elias Kachunga, before Tommy Smith struck an injury-time winner.
It meant David Wagner’s Terriers cut the deficit to Newcastle and Brighton to just five and four points respectively. Fourth-placed
Reading were also 3-2 victors, edging out Brentford at the Madejski Stadium.
John Swift’s opener for the Royals was cancelled out by strikes from Jota and Lasse Vibe, but Jaap Stam’s side refused to buckle.
Danny Williams netted in the 77th minute, before Roy Beerens notched the winner four minutes later.
Fifth-placed Leeds beat struggling Bristol City 2-1 courtesy of Chris Wood, with his 22nd goal of the season, and Pablo Hernandez. Milan Djuric scored a late consolation for the Robins. Sheffield Wednesday, in sixth, had Vincent Sasso to thank for their 2-1 win against Blackburn
Rovers. Sasso struck twice, with Sam Hutchinson scoring an own goal for Rovers.
It wasn’t a good night for the visitors. Hope Akpan is in hot water after being sent off for appearing to push referee Scott Duncan after he disallowed a late leveller for handball, while striker Sam Gallagher had 12 stitches to a cut knee. Fulham kept up their play-off pursuit with a 3-2 win against Nottingham Forest at Craven Cottage. Tom Cairney, Lucas Piazon and a Jack Hobbs own goal proved sufficient for the Whites, Forest netting through Patjim Kasami and Ben Brereton. Barnsley earned a stunning 3-1 win at Aston Villa, who included exTyke Conor Hourihane in their starting XI. Ex-Walsall hitman Tom Bradshaw notched a double with Adam Armstrong netting their opener from the penalty spot. Jonathan Kodjia scored for Steve Bruce’s badly-misfiring Villa.
Precious
There was another extraordinary game at
Derby, following their 3-3 draw with Bristol City at the weekend. This time, the Rams were on the wrong end of a 4-3 defeat against Neil Warnock’s Cardiff.
Darren Bent (two) and Julian de Sart scored for Derby, but the Bluebirds responded with goals from Kadeem Harris (two) and Craig Noone, before Joe Ralls kept his nerve to net a last-minute penalty winner.
Callum Robinson and Jordan Hugill were on the mark for Preston in their 2-1 win against Gianfranco Zola’s out-of-sorts
Birmingham, Che Adams scoring for the Blues.
Jake Buxton headed an 88th-minute winner as
Wigan earned three precious points in their fight to avoid the drop with a 1-0 victory at Wolves.