Newcastle 1-1 Wolves
by Harry De Cosemo
at St James’ Park

TEN-MAN Newcastle United held Wolverhampton Wanderers to a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park, but once again failed to do enough in attack on another uninspiring afternoon.

Jamaal Lascelles gave the hosts the lead, before Jonny made it all square. Newcastle then lost Sean Longstaff to a red card in the dying minutes.

Steve Bruce admits he knew his side would be in a fight this season, and is concerned about their lack of goals.

“I knew it would be difficult. It hasn’t been any different since this club were promoted from the Championship,” he said.

“You hope we can get a few results, but if you look at the Premier League at the minute, there is about three points separating 11 teams. And I always class us as one of those teams. We are under no illusions.

“At the moment, statistics will tell you there probably aren’t (goals in this team). We’ve got to try and improve that. 



“We have to change the mentality. In the second half, we sat in and tried to protect what we had and in the Premier League that is always difficult. You have to pose a threat yourself and we didn’t do that enough.” 

Wolves started on the front foot and went close within a minute when Joao Moutinho tested Martin Dubravka, but it didn’t take long for the game to settle into a quieter pattern.

Allan Saint-Maximin was Newcastle’s most potent attacking threat, but he wasn’t able to break through the lines as often as he did against Brighton and Manchester United.

Brilliant play by Matty Longstaff unleashed DeAndre Yedlin down the right, and he found Miguel Almiron, but Conor Coady cut out his cross before Joelinton could meet it.

Almiron went close himself, agonisingly finding the side netting after bearing down on Rui Patricio, before Lascelles gave Newcastle the lead with a towering header on 37 minutes.

The second half started slowly, but Wolves squandered a great chance to equalise when Diogo Jota blazed a header over the bar from close range.

As time rolled on, the visitors continued to impose themselves further. Raul Jimenez and Adama Traore were beginning to have a bigger impact on the game, while Jota was again wasteful with the goal gaping.

But they finally levelled through Jonny on 73 minutes. The Spaniard tapped home after Dubravka punched Gary Doherty’s cross.

Wolves then went in search of a second. Substitute Pedro Neto’s cross flashed across goal waiting for a touch that never came from Jimenez.

With eight minutes remaining, Sean Longstaff was sent off for a poor challenge on Ruben Neves, leading to Bruce replacing Joelinton, who had again struggled to make any sort of impact, with Jonjo Shelvey.

Doherty, who broke Newcastle hearts with a late winner in the corresponding fixture back in December, almost did so again. But the wingback couldn’t guide his header on target, so both sides had to settle for a draw.