Newcastle frailty exposed as big clashes with rivals loom

The next eight days will probably define Newcastle United’s season and this performance against Bristol City summed it up to this point.

They are the best team in the Championship, but there is a vulnerability that means automatic promotion could still elude Rafa Benítez’s side, who surrendered top spot to Brighton following this draw.

At times, Newcastle have been superb, but they can also look onedimensional and one-paced, nervous at the back and predictable going forward. There have been too many games like this one and Bristol City, a team fighting relegation, who had lost 10 out of their last 13, very nearly pulled off a sensational result.

Newcastle’s next three games are away to teams competing with them for a top-two spot – namely Brighton, Huddersfield and Reading. If they win all three, Newcastle will almost certainly return to the Premier League as champions. Lose all three and they may face the play-offs. “It’s two points lost. We didn’t start well, we made mistakes and we gave them hope they could get a result,” said Benítez. “If we play like we did in the second half, I’m not worried about the next three games, but we cannot keep making these mistakes.”

The first error was to allow Aaron Wilbraham the time and space to head in Gary O’Neil’s cross, with defenders waiting for a flag that never came. Newcastle almost conceded again when only a late lunge from full-back DeAndre Yedlin stopped Korey Smith’s shot flying past Karl Darlow.

They continued to flap in defence and gifted the visitors a goal moments later when Darlow got himself into a bad position and Paul Dummett’s backward header bounced beyond him, allowing David Cotterill to roll the ball into an empty net.

Newcastle got a goal back via a fortunate ricochet off the back of City’s Smith with more than half an hour left but wasted a succession of excellent chances before Ciaran Clark equalised, the ball bouncing in off his back as he tried to head a Matt Ritchie corner.

“We have set the standard now,” said Bristol City manager Lee Johnson. “We have to hustle like that in every game, we can’t stand around admiring our passing like we are Real Madrid.”