Toon spoil the maddest of Hatters parties!
Newcastle fight back for a point in St James’ thriller
ADAY after he was forced to stay at home in his sickbed, Eddie Howe was left needing another long lie down after one of the most dramatic matches St James’ Park has seen in a long while. The Newcastle boss was a doubt to take his place on the touchline against Luton after missing his pre-match press duties on Friday through illness.
But while Howe passed himself fit for duty in the dugout, his health was put to the test by his hot-andcold players, who put him through the wringer in the first 4-4 draw here since the Magpies’ famous comeback against Arsenal in 2011.
That Newcastle came back from 4-0 down to draw a classic Premier
League match, this time they recovered from 4-2 behind.
Yet the mood after substitute Harvey Barnes levelled was very different to when Cheick Tiote equalised against the Gunners 13 years ago, for this was a match Howe’s men needed to win if they want to be back in Europe next season.
‘It was probably a great game for the neutral, but not so much if you’re associated to us because there was a huge determination to win and we’re disappointed not to,’ admitted Howe afterwards. ‘There was lots of good and bad’. The bad was undoubtedly defensively, with Newcastle having now conceded 10 goals in their last three home games — more than in their previous 16.
In particular, left-back Dan Burn had a torrid afternoon against Chiedozie Ogbene, with fans calling for him to be substituted, which Howe duly did.
The good was, of course, the fightback from two goals down and it was only the second time this season the Toon have gained a point from being in a losing position. ‘That was a big step forward,’ said Howe.
But this was two steps back from their fine 3-1 midweek win at Aston Villa, their best away performance of the season, and they are down to ninth in the table. For Rob Edwards and Luton, however, the only way is up. Yes, letting slip a two-goal cushion was a bitter pill to swallow for Edwards, his Hatters players and their travelling fans.
However, the supporters’ chants of ‘We are staying up’ did not seem misguided for this was the second successive game in which they have scored four goals, following their stunning midweek thrashing of Brighton.
They are now 16th, one point above the drop zone with a game in hand on the bottom three.
‘I am very proud,’ said Edwards. ‘I felt sick at times, I felt elation at times, but I was pleased with the performance, our character and our resilience.
‘It was great to come to a team who were in the Champions League and take the game to them.
After going two goals up, there is a tinge of disappointment that we weren’t able to see it out.
‘But I will look back on this in the cold light of day that we came to St
James’ Park, we were brave and we got a point.’
Edwards must have feared the worst when his side went behind after only seven minutes.
Lewis Miley’s exquisite raking ball from inside the centre circle found an advanced Kieran Trippier on the right touchline.
The England full-back then expertly crossed along the deck to Sean Longstaff, who was on the spot to steer in from 10 yards. But battling Luton got themselves back on terms in the 21st minute. Ross Barkley’s free-kick into the box was headed back across the middle by Carlton Morris and Gabriel Osho rose highest to nod over a helpless Martin Dubravka and in off the crossbar.
St James’ Park was silenced, but only temporarily, because two
minutes later Longstaff had a second goal.
It was a classic counter-attack effort from the home team, as Miguel Almiron won the ball in his own box and sent Anthony Gordon flying down the left wing.
He got the better of Osho, turning him inside out and getting a strong shot away inside the box. And while Thomas Kaminski did well to save, his parry fell to the feet of an unmarked Longstaff, who helped himself with another comfortable finish from virtually the same spot as his first.
A resilient Luton, though, hit back again five minutes before the break.
Barkley escaped Longstaff’s tame tackle then broke forward with purpose before passing to Alfie Doughty on the left. His cross was then tamely parried by Dubravka straight to Barkley, who could not miss from six yards for his third goal of the season.
After the break, fit-again Newcastle striker Callum Wilson was introduced for Gordon, who had been playing as a makeshift No9 but twisted his ankle and could not carry on in the second half.
However, it was the visitors’ No 9 who was to have the next big say in this thrilling match after 59 minutes.
Luton were awarded a penalty by VAR when Ogbene was pulled down by Burn and VAR adjudged the contact had carried on into the box. Morris stepped up and, though his first coolly taken spot-kick had to be retaken after the referee had already blown for an infringement, he repeated his trick of sending Dubravka the wrong way to give Luton an unlikely lead.
Three minutes later, the Hatters had a two-goal cushion in the game and were in dreamland as Elijah Adebayo, fresh from his midweek hat-trick against Brighton, — fired past Dubravka from Barkley’s lay-off.
Yet the hosts finally stirred from their slumber and pulled one back when Bruno Guimaraes crossed with the outside of his boot and captain Trippier volleyed in leftfooted at the far post.
From then on, you just knew an equaliser was coming in this topsy turvy encounter, although you would not have predicted the source.
Barnes had been out of action injured since September but, just 10 minutes after his reintroduction to action, he reacted to a loose ball on the edge of the box and drilled a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner, sending the St James’ Park faithful wild.