Bruce hails Murphy after dramatic late equaliser

Newcastle b oss Steve Bruce h a i l e d J a c o b M u r p h y a f t e r his first Premier League goal in nearly three years earned a point at Wolves.

The wi nger's late free -kick cancelled out R aul Jimenez's fourth goal of the season to grab a 1-1 draw.

Murphy's last top-flight strike came in Januar y 2018 and he has since had loan spells at West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday after struggling to make a consistent breakthrough followi n g h i s move f r o m No r wi c h in 2017. But Bruce praised his impact after playing him out of position at wing-back due to the Magpies' injury problems.

Bruce said: "He was arguably our best player today and I'm delighted for him. He had a big loan at Sheffield Wednesday last year and that did him the world of good."i never contemplated it (a loan move) from the first week he was back. He was a different player. Certainly physically he's come back in really good condition.

"We all know he's a good athlete and he certainly looks like h e ' s m a t u r e d . H e h a d b e e n practicing free-kicks on Thursday in training and I was thinking 'let's see if he can do it again'.

"The development is there for ever ybody to see. Now it was ab out ' can he come and p erform at this level?' He was certainly comfortable.”

Da ni e l Po d e n c e a n d Pe d r o Neto tried to force the issue early and Allan Saint-maximin's deflected strike nearly caught out Rui Patricio in the first half.

But it was a game where the action was confined to the last 10 minutes, when Wolves took the leadthrough Jimenez, with Murphy denying Wolves with a minute left.