FULL PETAL JACKET
Spring is on way.. but Bruce needs more than flower power to lift Toon
St James’ Park: 8pm
BY SIMON BIRD
STEVE BRUCE has pinpointed the reason Newcastle are facing a crunch week... daffodils are blooming.
The Toon chief has spotted the spring flower emerging and says it means “the tickly part” of the season is upon us, with the Magpies facing an increasingly tense relegation battle.
Bruce has refused to accept it is a scrap between the Geordies, Fulham and Brighton to avoid the drop, saying all the sides up to
13th are under threat.
Toon host Wolves today needing nothing but a win, and Bruce hit back at suggestions he was wrong to be caught laughing with Manchester United boss
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (above) after last week’s defeat at Old Trafford.
Bruce said: “We are coming to the tickly part.
When the daffodils are up that is the sign the crux of the season is upon us.
“Fulham won two in a week. What a difference that makes. It is all to play for. It is not just Fulham. There are six or seven looking nervously over their shoulders. We are one of them. There is a long way to go. All to play for.
“We still have a lead. It is the accumulation of points over a season and that will not change for me. Can we finish above them? I am quietly confident we can do that.
“Burnley, Brighton are above us. Southampton are having a bad run. We have to try to get over the line and get as many points as we can.
“Is Wolves a must-win? It would be nice to win. With 13 games to go, that’s a lot.
The daffodils are coming up, that is the first sign of big games.”
Asked about his joke with Solskjaer, Bruce said: “I have known Ole for 20 years. If I am caught smiling with him... he was complimenting us on how well we played.
“So if it is a bad thing that I have smiled with Ole, fortunately I am OK, let it be.”
Bruce is expected to axe keeper Karl Darlow and bring back former player of the year Martin Dubravka. And he has admitted Callum Wilson could be back after the international break to face Brighton.
Joe Willock has ordered United to bury their relegation worries in the next two weeks.
The on-loan Arsenal midfielder reckons a victory tonight against Wolves can see off the challenge of Fulham and be a big step to Premier League safety (Isaac Hayden looks dejected after Old Trafford defeat, left).
Willock said: “They are trying to pull us back into the relegation battle but, if we get points from these games, we put that to bed.
“That is what we are looking to do. We are fighting together and we have enough depth in the squad to do that.”
Asked if fear was creeping in at St James’ Park, the England Under-21 star added: “I sense big determination. I feel like we have a togetherness and more than enough ability to get out of where we are right now.
“We have just played two topfour teams and that was not easy. In the next few games, I will show what I can do.”
ENGLISH football’s busiest goalkeeper somehow found the time to save more shots than anyone else after organising 6,000 meals for kids in 61 schools across Birmingham.
When he was not tipping Harry Maguire’s header on to the post in the dying seconds against Manchester United, Sam Johnstone was dipping his hand in his pocket – donating £700 in the whip-round for a van driver delivering key workers’ meals whose vehicle was destroyed by fire.
And when football was suspended last year, Johnstone warmed up for promotion by paying for meals and drinks to be delivered to NHS and care home staff in Preston, his home town.
“I’d never really done anything like that before,” said Johnstone. “But I’m in a privileged position and people out there are struggling.
“There’s a lot of footballers out there doing their bit for good causes. We’re not the bad guys, there are people a lot richer than us who could help more.
“Look at what Marcus Rashford has done. It’s nice to help, and football has shown a little bit of care goes a long way.”
If England caps were awarded for charitable feats, Johnstone would be in the squad already.
But if he’s not in the frame now, Gareth Southgate is looking at the wrong pictures in the art gallery.
Johnstone’s last-gasp save to deny United – where he spent 15 years on the books as man and boy without making a single first-team appearance – made you believe a man can fly.
“Obviously, I know a few of the staff, and afterwards they were giving me grief,” he laughed. “But stopping shots and headers is what I’m there for.”
West Brom’s desperate struggle to find a foothold in the quicksand should not impair Johnstone’s England claims.
He belongs in the same bracket as Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope and Dean Henderson, and the Baggies’ defensive record – only Wigan and Swindon have conceded more goals in all four divisions – can’t be laid at his door alone. A rare clean sheet for Albion’s 10 men gave them fresh hope of the Gre 2.0 as a sequel to Bryan Robson class of 2005.
But the margin for error, sta this weekend’s home date with is now painfully narrow.
“Everyone knows I’ve been there is a stat which says I’ve most saves in the Premier Le season,” said Johnstone.
“It sounds daft, because I h football matches, but I’m enj test of being in the Premier Le making saves to deny some of t best players.
“Being busy is a tough one: it, you’re in goal to make saves – job – and I want to help the te
“We should have won at That’s probably the quietest had since we were promoted, a clean sheet, something to bu