Newcastle 2-1 Tottenham
by Roger Domeneghetti
at St James’ Park

GOALS from Aleksander Isak and Harvey Barnes today gave Newcastle all three points in this hard-fought encounter. The result sends them into the international break knowing they will be no lower than fifth in the table, and that they could possibly be in the coveted Champions League places.

By contrast Spurs, who have now dropped points in both their away games, could finish the weekend outside of the top 10.

St James’ Park has been an unlucky ground for the London side in recent years, the last two seasons seeing them on the wrong end of a 10-1 aggregate score. With nearly 66 per cent possession and 20 shots, they were more competitive, but while they seemed to have control of the game for long periods of time they never took advantage.

“We controlled it for the most part,” said Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou. “We nullified most of the threat Newcastle have; we just needed to kill it off, but we didn’t do that.”

Newcastle’s performance was the quintessence of Eddie Howe’s team. They are at their best in the face of adversity, when their backs are against the wall. Allow them to snatch a lead, however undeserved, and they will hold onto it tenaciously, unlikely to give it up.

“It was a really tough game,” said the Newcastle manager. “I thought the first half was pretty even, but it was a great response to going 1-1, to find a goal. It’s so hard to win in this league.”

Having weathered a period of dominance from Spurs, Newcastle went ahead very much against the run of play eight minutes before the half-time break. Having worked the ball down the right, Lloyd Kelly found Harvey Barnes arriving unmarked in the box, who made no mistake with a low finish.

After the break it was more of the same and after 11 minutes, Spurs made the breakthrough. James Maddison shot from distance and Nick Pope could only parry into the path of Brennan Johnson. Pope also managed to save his shot but could only watch as an attempted clearance from the hapless Dan Burn cannoned into the roof of the net.

The pressure had told and with more than half an hour to go, it seemed that Spurs might overwhelm their hosts. They continued to dominate the ball but never really posed an incisive threat. Against the run of play again it was Newcastle who found a winner. Joelinton turning James Maddison just inside Newcastle’s half before playing a pinpoint ball through for Murphy to run on to before he squared to Isak who made no mistake.