SAFE AT LAST?
Newcastle almost throw it away, but Willock gives them nine-point cushion
SUPPORTING Newcastle should really come with a government health warning. They have the power to expose you to every emotion, and this game at St James’ Park had them all.
Excitement at 1-0. Amazement at 2-0. It was fitting of the Twitter website to crash at this point — perhaps due to the sheer number of West Ham supporters asking if you are even allowed in the Champions League if that £40million enigma Joelinton scores against you.
Concern at 2-1 — are we throwing this away? Anger at 2-2 — yes, we are. That familiar sinking feeling sets in. Finally relief at 3-2 — we did not mess up against 10 men after all.
Newcastle won, just. It was an eventful afternoon, to say the least. They are now nine points clear of the Premier League’s bottom three and maybe, with six games to go, this is enough to survive.
For West Ham, their first-half Keystone Cop defending left them up against it. Craig Dawson was shown a second yellow card. Issa Diop scored an own goal. Lukasz Fabianski fumbled a routine catch to gift Joelinton a tap-in. They actually performed better with 10 players and on another day, might have won 3-2 themselves.
In the end, a thunderous header from substitute Joe Willock saw Newcastle pinch all three points. Steve Bruce insists they are not safe yet, but it would take a collapse of Devon Loch proportions for this club to drop down to the Championship from here.
‘I don’t think we’ve got enough points yet,’ Bruce said. ‘My aim is to beat last year’s points tally.’
Newcastle picked up 44 points last season and are on 35 now. They came into this with a specific plan to let the visitors have the ball, perhaps knowing that they prefer playing without it.
In their other Premier League games this season, West Ham had averaged 40 per cent possession. In the opening 15 minutes here, they had 66 per cent.
Because of that, West Ham struggled to create situations where they could counter-attack in numbers. They usually like driving at defences — with Jesse Lingard having proven particularly good at this — but Newcastle’s brick wall was standing firm.
Of all the players on the pitch, the one who looked like bringing the ‘X Factor’ was always Allan SaintMaximin. He was repeatedly running at West Ham, and that was key to Newcastle finding the breakthrough.
As the clock struck 35 minutes, a pass was played to Dawson, who took a heavy touch inside the centre circle. Already on a yellow card, he scrambled to retrieve the ball, but took out Joelinton.
Referee Kevin Friend put his whistle to his mouth but, to his credit, waited. Saint-Maximin had picked up possession and was driving at West Ham’s defence. Mark Noble did well to force him wide, leaving the Newcastle forward with an awkward angle to shoot from.
His shot was soft and it looked as if it would be a straightforward save for Fabianski or a routine goal-line clearance for Diop. A mixup saw Diop comically use his left foot to kick the ball on to his right and into his own goal.
While Newcastle’s players celebrated, Dawson was shown a second yellow. Now that is what you call a double whammy. It got worse for West Ham in the 41st minute. A corner came in and Fabianski shouted: ‘Keeper!’ But he did not have it. Under no pressure, with few players around him, he dropped the catch and Joelinton had a tap-in for 2-0.
Despite being down to 10 men, West Ham continued to dominate possession. They are the Premier League’s leading scorers from setpieces and were testing Newcastle in the second half.
Vladimir Coufal ghosted in behind Matt Ritchie to meet one cross and Martin Dubravka had to make the save. In the 73rd minute, Diop beat Dubravka with a header. VAR started drawing their lines but the goal was good and West Ham had a lifeline.
In the 79th minute, Friend was told to visit his pitch-side monitor. Replays showed Ciaran Clark had handled the ball in the box, with his arm in an unnatural position. It had stopped Tomas Soucek from getting his head to the cross, and Friend pointed to the penalty spot.
Lingard stepped up and made it 2-2. It looked as if Bruce’s boys had thrown away a very big win against 10 men. Heads were in hands when Jacob Murphy’s goal-bound shot was brilliantly cleared off the line by the West Ham youngster Ben Johnson.
Yet there was time for one final twist. Willock was introduced in the 81st minute and in the 82nd, he headed a cross beyond Fabianski. Newcastle held on from there, while West Ham could not mount another comeback, with Lingard worryingly limping off before full time.
Just another eventful, exhaustive, emotional hour and a half in the company of Newcastle.
NEWCASTLE (5-3-2): Dubravka 5.5; Murphy 6, Fernandez 6, Clark 5.5, Dummett 6, Ritchie 6; Longstaff 6 (Willock 81min), Shelvey 6, Almiron 6; Saint-Maximin 7 (Wilson 64, 6), Joelinton 6 (Carroll 90). Booked: Shelvey, Murphy. Subs (not used): Gillespie, Gayle, Lewis, Hendrick, Krafth, Manquillo. WEST HAM (3-4-1-2): Fabianski 5; Diop 5, Dawson 4, Ogbonna 5; Coufal 5.5, Noble 6 (Benrahma 75, 6), Soucek 6, Johnson 6 (Fredericks 90); Fornals 5.5; Bowen 5.5, Lingard 6 (Lanzini 87). Booked: Dawson. Sent off: Dawson (36min). Subs (not used): Martin, Trott, Balbuena, Yarmolenko, Alves, Coventry. Referee: K Friend 6.