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

COMING into this battle of the petrostate vanity projects, Newcastle had lost three of four League games, needing a last-gasp Bruno Guimaraes goal to sneak past Fulham at home in the other. They’d also won just one of their last 35 League games against Manchester City.

An away banker? Not exactly. The paradox of Eddie Howe’s team is that they always raise themselves for the bigger games, especially at home. They’re motoring in the Champions League, their grip on the League Cup remains tight. They brought some of that cup form into this scintillating game.

Before the break, both teams had spells of domination but neither took advantage of them. The score could easily have been 3-3 when the crowd tucked into their half-time pies, instead it was a half of missed chances.

Erling Haaland and Phil Foden missed spurned opportunities for the visitors. Nick Woltemade drew an early save from Gianluigi Donnarumma. Most glaringly, Harvey Barnes side-footed wide from barely six yards out. Cow’s arse, meet banjo. Or rather don’t. It was the sort of miss that looked like it would come back to haunt the Magpies.

The helter-skelter mayhem that lay just under the surface of the first half broke through in seven chaotic minutes midway into the second half.

On 63 minutes, seemingly from nothing, Guimaraes played a neat one-two with Barnes who atoned for his earlier calamity with a pin-point strike beyond Donnarumma into the bottom left-had corner.

Pep Guardiola, dressed all in black, like a stormtrooper from some dystopian future, punched the City bench in frustration.

It took just five minutes for the second goal to arrive. Newcastle failed to clear a corner, Ruben Dias, picking up the loose ball and shooting through a crowded area beyond the wrong-footed Nick Pope.

Two minutes later, Newcastle were ahead again. Woltemade won a header at the far post, Guimaraes’ header hit the bar and dropped to Barnes who contorted himself to somehow side foot the ball into the net from close range. Donnarumma was adamant he’d been fouled and was booked for his trouble.

VAR Craig Pawson took the best part of three minutes to determine that Guimaraes was not offside. Barnes’s journey from zero to hero was complete.

At the final whistle, the stormtrooper approached referee Sam Barrott, pressing his finger into the official’s chest. He got no joy.