Relief for Magpies Amidst Second Half Collapse
Well , it was not straightforward was it?
As mentioned last week after an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Manchester City , Newcastle United had to beat Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon , and they did just that . As expected given the news regarding Sandro Tonali on Saturday night , he was only able to make the bench due to an injury scare - far from ideal with the Carabao Cup Final now less than three weeks away.
Yet , it was his replacement Lewis Miley that filled the boots of the “Midfield Maestro from Milano” who played a starring role in midfield . It was his equaliser in response to an early Callum Hudson-Odoi strike that galvanised Newcastle kickstarting a goal-laden eleven minute spell .
Lewis Hall was another in black and white that impressed , with his deflected cross landing just inside the six yard box for Jacob Murphy to bundle over the line , making amends for his giveaway in the lead up to the opener . It was Hall again involved in Newcastle’s third thanks to a cross that struck the raised arm of Ola Aina and saw Alexander Isak just about squeeze home the penalty past former magpie Mats Sels in goal for Forest . Moments later , the impressive Joe Willock raced through on goal and played Isak in and , albeit with the help of a deflection , he buried his nineteenth goal of the season amidst jubilant scenes at St James’ Park. Newcastle had truly blitzed a Nottingham Forest team who had turned up on Tyneside slight favourites in a dominant first-half performance.
However the second half unfolded in quite the opposite manner . The hosts had , as expected , sat back and were willing to soak up Forest pressure aware of the risk this posed given the form the likes of Chris Wood , Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White have been in this season . Although it was an unlikely source that provided hope for the visitors , in the form of Serbian defender Nikola Milenkovic who improvised well to finish a Chris Wood cross early in the second half . This set the tone , with Newcastle enjoying little joy in the final third in contrast to the free flowing first half. Murillo flashed a header wide and Anthony Elanga cleared the crossbar with an acrobatic effort from a few yards out . Sandro Tonali’s introduction 20 minutes from time provided much needed calmness in front of a defensive duo of Dan Burn and Fabian Schär that struggled with the relentless pressure . Thankfully , it was too little too late when substitute Ryan Yates slotted past Nick Pope , with Forest manager Nuno Espírito Santo venting his frustration at the lack of additional time . Callum Wilson ought to have sealed three points with the last kick , seeing his shot blocked despite Anthony Gordon bracing for a simple finish yards away . Luckily , that did not matter as Newcastle held firm for an important three points , even more important in the context of the weekend’s results with Manchester City , Bournemouth , Chelsea and Fulham all losing. Given an ominous trip to Anfield awaits on Wednesday, Newcastle can now afford an expected defeat against the runaway leaders , and look ahead to next weekend’s visit of Brighton in the FA Cup fifth round where a win would take the toon one victory from a Wembley return.
Up The Mags!
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