Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
NEIL MOXLEY
Almost, but not quite.
If this was an entrance exam to the Champions League, Toon would have to resit it.
Of course, it’s one of the oldest sayings in the game that big teams find a way to win when the pressure is on.
And, in football, they don’t come in any more heightened emotional states than Elland Road with the crowd and its team backed into a corner.
So, for the Magpies, this was a real test.
With a wobble last week against Arsenal and a resurgent Liverpool clawing their way back into the top-four mix – not to mention Manchester United, the temperature has been raised.
And it truly was in West Yorkshire.
New man-of-the-hour Sam Allardyce might have gone all Mike Bassett since his introduction to one of the best – and warmest – of hot seats in English football, but everyone knows what he stands for.
Claiming to be the equal of
Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp was one thing.
But, with your first-choice assistant Sammy Lee not being able to join because he couldn’t be released from jury duty, and fellow recruit Robbie Keane being plucked off the jobless list because Leeds’ new boss enjoyed working with him at Soccer Aid, it was as if the scriptwriters from Dream
Team had reformed for another series.
No matter.
Everyone in football knows what Allardyce does.
Reputations count for nothing. It might be a craftily cultivated ploy, but this guy is no mug.
Newcastle supporters might disagree, of course, but would they have preferred to have played Leeds United with Big Sam or Javi Gracia in charge? He drove Arsene Wenger – among others – to distraction with Bolton Wanderers, so was always likely to come up with something here.
And he did. Allardyce (left) flooded the midfield and stopped Toon from doing what they like best – building dominance through Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton.
Roared on by the usual partisan fervour that sweeps this stadium on special occasions, every white-shirted duel that ended in a small triumph was greeted with near-universal approval.
It was into this arena that Eddie Howe and his men had entered, trying to follow their own agenda.
Sixteen months ago, Newcastle’s boss stepped over the threshold here, not knowing whether he would even be in a job once the weekend was out.
Bottom of the league and with just one win since he had taken over, mumblings of discontent were becoming louder.
Jonjo Shelvey silenced them with a free-kick and the Tynesiders have kicked into overdrive. But now the tickly bit of the campaign is upon us.
And, until Nick Pope swung the outcome of this match back into the balance with his penalty save from Patrick Bamford, it looked as if the occasion would overwhelm them. Second to everything, slow and ponderous with their passing, it wasn’t looking good. But the England shot-stopper saved Bamford’s spot-kick after Luke Ayling’s early goal – and it was the turning point.
Within seconds, Max Wober cleaned out Alexander Isak at the other end and Callum Wilson proved he could live up to the expectation of Newcastle’s No.9 shirt, banging home his own penalty.
Wilson did it again after Junior Firpo’s senseless handball gifted the visitors another opportunity from 12 yards.
At this stage, with Leeds’ desperation almost palpable, a pedigree team would have seized the moment.
They would have picked off their opponents and ran in a third. They had a couple of opportunities to do exactly that.
They failed. It left them open to a sucker punch that really never looked like coming.
A point nearer the ultimate goal – for both teams – but, for Newcastle, it was not so much the one that got away but the one that should have been.