RITCHIE RELIEF AS TOON END JINX

NOT even Matt Ritchie’s contender for miss of the season could deny Newcastle as they were successful on a Monday night for the first time since December 2012. Rafa Benitez’s visitors had raced into a 2-0 lead, but, after Burnley pulled one back, the Scotland international had the chance to regain their two-goal cushion early in the second half. Joe Hart got a toe to DeAndre Yedlin’s cross-shot, yet could only divert the ball into the path of winger Ritchie who, from just a couple of yards out and with a completely open goal in front of him, somehow managed to skew his effort wide. Ritchie will have breathed a sigh of relief afterwards that his team managed to hold out for victory, but this was a glaring miss that will be viewed again and again. Newcastle finally shook off the curse of Monday night football that had haunted them for almost six years and, more importantly, climbed further away from the relegation zone. Kick-off had been delayed by half an hour after Eddie Wolstenholme, a former Premier League official, suffered a suspected heart attack in the tunnel. The 64-year-old, who was at Turf Moor as a referee’s assessor, was attended to by medical staff from both clubs before being taken to hospital. According to Burnley’s Twitter feed, Wolstenholme was conscious when he left the stadium. When the action began, Newcastle took an early lead when Federico Fernandez’s shot was deflected over Hart by Ben Mee’s outstretched leg. Soon after, Ciaran Clark’s flicked header doubled the lead. Sam Vokes pulled one back for Burnley before half-time with a brilliant looping header from 16 yards. In the last ten minutes, Newcastle sub Joselu hit a thunderous low shot which left Hart stranded but came back off the post. As for Ritchie’s miss, Benitez smiled: ‘I need to see the replay because I couldn’t believe it. Maybe we can have a laugh after the victory. If not, we’ll be talking to Matt Ritchie seriously.’ Burnley counterpart Sean Dyche, whose team remain just a point above the bottom three, said: ‘On balance, we probably deserved something. But once you give those goals away, it’s difficult at 2-0 down in the Premier League.’