Bruce gives vote of confidence to struggling striker
TOON WARNED OF NUNO’S GOLDEN PLUNDERERS
JOELINTON has been given a vote of confidence by boss Steve Bruce – after Newcastle fans chanted he was not fit to wear the shirt.
The under-fire Brazilian has scored just one goal in 22 games, and none in the last 19, and Bruce has ordered the £40million record signing to lift his game and “get stuck in” at Wolves today.
Bruce insists “there is a good player” ready to emerge, despite the star being abused by a handful of Toon fans after another blank against Rochdale last week.
Joelinton, 23, had chants of, “You’re not fit to wear the shirt...” hurled at him by some angry away fans. And Bruce says the only answer is to
NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO has warned Newcastle that Wolves are ready for another late show.
Wanderers have plundered five points off Toon in their last three meetings with late goals.
Jonny (inset) snatched a point in a 1-1 draw in October, Willy Boly equalised at the death at
“persevere”. Andy Carroll is fit again tomorrow and Dwight Gayle is desperate for a fresh chance up front.
“Hopefully, he did not understand the chants,” said Bruce. “We could all visibly see that he was upset when he missed a chance, but we all know there is something there. The key is confidence and as far as we can to keep him in good spirits.
“He wants to learn, I am convinced of that. It is tough for him at the moment. The only thing is to put your head down and keep working away.
“You can not feel sorry for yourself. He is still young, the same age as Sean Longstaff, and everyone calls him a youngster. So we have to keep persevering and keep working.
“When we see him training we know there is a good player there. We have seen glimpses. But coach said: “It shows the resilience, the character and the belief of the players. We don’t give up until the game is finished. “The determination of the players is they go over and over again, no matter how many games we have. Also, it’s down to they are judged by scoring goals and a striker needs to kick on.
“He has not missed a training session or a game for me. I hope against Wolves he will step up and get stuck in.
“He’s a young lad and the No.9 shirt wears heavy. The great thing is he wants to improve.
“I’ve pulled him on the training ground. You can do all sorts there and it’s not a problem for him. He needs one where he has a chance and takes it.
“We were saying the same about Almiron and, all of a sudden, he’s got two goals in two weeks.
“Joelinton works hard in training and games, his stats are very good.
“He’s got that classic thing of being a striker who needs a goal.”
PREMIER LEAGUE SHEFF UTD (0) 1 WEST HAM (0) McBurnie 54 Att: 30,124
W D L F A Pts 19 1 0 49 14 58 14 3 4 46 19 45 14 2 5 56 24 44 11 3 7 36 29 36 8 8 6 24 21 32 8 7 6 32 25 31 8 6 7 36 30 30 7 9 5 30 27 30 7 7 7 19 23 28 6 9 6 28 30 27 7 4 10 24 32 25 7 4 10 25 38 25 7 4 10 20 33 25 6 6 9 25 29 24 7 3 11 24 34 24 6 4 11 25 33 22 6 3 12 27 37 21 5 5 11 20 32 20 4 7 10 17 34 19 3 5 13 22 41 14
Liverpool Leicester Man City Chelsea Sheff Utd Man Utd Tottenham Wolves Crystal Palace Arsenal Everton Southampton Newcastle Brighton Burnley West Ham Aston Villa Bournemouth Watford Norwich
P 20 21 21 21 22 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21
NBA
Detroit 112 Cleveland 115 (OT), Minnesota 116 Portland 102, Oklahoma City 113 Houston 92, Philadelphia 109 Boston 98. 0
3RD T20I, Pune
India 201-6 (20 overs; Rahul 54, S Dhawan 52). Sri Lanka 123 (15.5 overs, Dhananjaya 57). India won by 78 runs. India win 3-match series 2-0.
BDO WORLD CH’SHIPS, Indigo at The O2, London Men, Qtr-finals: W Warren (Wal) bt C Landman (Ned) 5-3, M Vandenbogaerde (Bel) bt D Evans (Eng) 5-3, J Williams (Wal) bt P Hogan (Eng) 5-1.
Women, Semi-final: L Ashton (Eng) bt C Hammond (Aus) 2-0.
SOUTH AFRICAN OPEN, JOHANNESBURG, 2nd Round (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71): 131 T Pulkkanen (Fin) 65 66 132 S Horsfield 64 68, J Ahlers (Rsa) 66 66, T Lawrence (Rsa) 67 65, J Trey Schaper (Rsa) 65 67, T Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 65 67 133 J Veerman (USA) 62 71, H Hall 65 68, D Greene (Rsa) 67 66, J Senior 67 66
SONY OPEN IN HAWAII Honolulu, Hawaii, 1st Round (USA unless stated, par 70):
65 C Morikawa
67 S Ryder, T Potter, Jr Jr, M Jones (Aus), R Palmer
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP
POOL TWO
LA ROCHELLE 30 SALE 23 La Rochelle—T: Railevu, Kerr Barlow, Doumayrou, Alldritt. C: West (2). P: West (2). Sale—T: du Preez, Langdon. C: MacGinty, Williams. P: MacGinty (2), Williams.
P W D L B 4 4 0 0 3 5 2 0 3 2 4 2 0 2 1 5 1 0 4 3 POOL THREE BATH 19 HARLEQUINS Bath—T: Walker, Hamer- Webb, Willison. C: Burns (2). Harlequins—T: Chisholm, Ibitoye, Dombrandt. C: Herron (2). P: Herron (2). Att: 12,059 P W D L B F A Pts 4 4 0 0 1 94 63 17 4 3 0 1 4 152 82 16 5 2 0 3 1 95 140 9 5 0 0 5 4 87 143 4
Exeter La Rochelle Glasgow Sale
Ulster C Auvergne Harlequins Bath
F A Pts 122 60 19 93 113 10 65 77 9 85 115 7
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ATP CUP, Sydney, Qtr-finals: Serbia bt Canada 3-0, Spain bt Belgium 2-1.
Semi-finals: Australia v Spain, Russia v Serbia.
ATP QATAR OPEN, Doha, Semi-finals: A Rublev (Rus) bt M Kecmanovic (Ser) 6-3 6-1; C Moutet (Fra) bt (1) Stan Wawrinka (Swi) 3-6 7-5 6-3.
(3 unless stated)
BBL Championship: Surrey v Newcastle (7).
Elite League (7): Coventry v Fife, Dundee v Guildford, Manchester v Cardiff.
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Friendlies: Salford v Leigh (12), Newcastle v Whitehaven.
European Champions Cup Pool 2: Glasgow v Exeter (3.15).
Pool 3: Clermont Auvergne v Ulster (1). Pool 4: Ospreys v Saracens (1). Pool 5: Connacht v Toulouse (3.15), Gloucester v Montpellier (5.30).
European Challenge Cup Pool 1: Castres v Dragons (2), Worcester v Enisei-STM. Pool 2: Bayonne v London Irish (4), Scarlets v Toulon (8). Pool 3: Agen v Wasps (2), BordeauxBegles v Edinburgh (12.45).
Pool 4: Bristol v Brive, Stade Francais v Zebre (2pm).
Pool 5: Calvisano v Pau (1.30).