Gayle seals win as Magpies roar away at the top
DARYL MURPHY helped Newcastle take a giant step towards automatic promotion with a controversial victory over third-placed Huddersfield.
A harsh penalty award and a disputed goal from Murphy ensured Newcastle extended their lead over the chasing pack to 11 points.
Second-placed Brighton’s 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest had earlier given Huddersfield every incentive, but a disputed early penalty, scored by Matt Ritchie, and Murphy’s strike put the visitors in control.
Wells’ foul on Ritchie for the penalty looked harsh and Town claimed keeper Danny Ward had the ball under his control before it was hooked from his grasp by Murphy who slotted home.
Town pulled a goal back through another controversial penalty from Aaron Mooy before Dwight Gayle sealed it in stoppage time.
Newcastle went ahead with their first attack when Mohamed Diame burst through the midfield, leaving defenders in his wake, before slipping a pass to Murphy. The frontman, on the right,
produced a powerful angled shot which Ward tipped over at full stretch.
Town failed to clear the resulting corner and Jonjo Shelvey had a shot blocked – and appeared to handle the ball – before Ritchie set off towards goal and went down under a challenge from Nahki Wells.
Ritchie took the penalty himself and fired home to Ward’s right to give the visitors a 10th-minute lead.
The home side took time to recover from the early blow with Newcastle determined not to let them regain the initiative. Town worked their way back into the game and Michael Hefele got on the end of a corner, but it was deflected out before Philip Billing’s 30- yarder was beaten away by Karl Darlow.
Newcastle made it 2- 0 in the 32nd minute after a great ball over the top from Shelvey. Murphy’s first touch wasn’t good enough and Ward came out to smother the ball but, as the two players came together, the ball squirmed from his grasp and Murphy slotted the ball past Hefele on the line.
Town were furious and centre- back Christopher Schindler was booked for protesting the decision.
Huddersfield replaced Ward, who had a dead leg, with Joel Coleman at the break, but put the leaders under pressure at the start of the second half.
Midfielder Billing had two chances to pull Town back into the game, but his first effort drifted high and wide and he failed to connect cleanly with a second, seeing the ball bobble wide.
Shelvey denied Brown when he brought him down 20 yards from goal and earned a booking. Wells’ free-kick was no threat to Darlow’s goal.
Shelvey was the centre of more controversy when he was adjudged to have fouled Elias Kachunga in the box.
Referee Roger East gave the penalty and Mooy coolly slotted into the bottom corner.
But Newcastle sealed the points in the 90th minute when a long clearance from the back bounced over Coleman and left top scorer Gayle, on as a sub after injury, on his own to slot home.