Newcastle 2-2 West Ham
by Harry de Cosemo
at St James’s Park

NEWCASTLE UNITED twice struck back to deny West Ham as they played out a 2-2 draw at St James’s Park.

Michael Antonio and Thomas Soucek had the Hammers in control in both halves, but Miguel Almiron and Jonjo Shelvey replied each time. It certainly was a missed opportunity for the away side, who failed to secure a six-point cushion to the bottom three.

Magpies boss Steve Bruce said he was happy with the way his side bounced back, but admitted being disappointed with the sloppy start.

“I am pleased with the result after going behind twice,” he said.

“There aren’t many teams who have done that since the lockdown. We’re disappointed with the start, gifting them the first goal, but the response from the team was good.

“It was probably a fair result and we’d have taken it having gone behind so early.”

Bruce went on to say he is hoping to push for a top-ten finish between now and the end of the season.

“That has got to be our aim — can we go and finish off the season. We’ve shown our resilience. We’ve scored ten goals in four games, which is pleasing. We’ve got five games to go and there would be some people who would have said 43 points at this stage wouldn’t be possible. We’ll keep improving.”

The Hammers were ahead inside five minutes. Jarrod Bowen broke down the right and crossed low into the box. Jamaal Lascelles completely misjudged it, allowing Antonio to fire the ball high into the net.

Newcastle, who were looking to make themselves mathematically safe from relegation, were soon level. Emil Krafth crossed for Almiron, who found the net at the near post. Allan Saint-Maximin and Joelinton were heavily involved in the build-up.

Bowen went close to putting his side in the lead once again, but Martin Dubravka was there to deny him.

Bruce was forced into a substitution before half time, when Isaac Hayden limped off to be replaced by Nabil Bentaleb. But Newcastle had the better of the first 45 minutes overall.

Almiron shot wide moments after the break as the hosts continued to play on the front foot, but the tempo of the game began to drop as the hour mark approached.

West Ham managed to get their noses in front again with 25 minutes remaining. Declan Rice hit the bar from a corner, before Soucek netted his second goal in successive games from the rebound.

That sparked Newcastle into life, and they responded instantly. Shelvey found a way through after combining with Dwight Gayle, before finding the bottom corner.

Substitute Andriy Yarmolenko almost put the visitors back in front for a third time as he stung the palms of Dubravka with an effort from distance, having linked up brilliantly with Soucek.

David Moyes admitted he was sickened at his side’s failure to win the game, having dropped more points from leading positions than anyone else this term.

“I was sickened because of us working so hard to get a goal back and then gave it up so quickly,” he said. 

“Newcastle played well first half, but we grew into it just before half time and the second.

“By the end of the game, we were creating the most chances.”