It was a game riddled with emotions as Newcastle welcomed Tottenham Hotspur to St. James Park on Sunday in their first game after the completion of the club's takeover by a Saudi Arabian outfit from former owner, Mike Ashley, who had over the years come under fire for his poor management of the club.
In what was meant to be a welcome party for the new owners, Spurs ruined this with a 2-3 victory, coming from behind to end their misery on the road in the premier league.
Much has been up in the air about the future of current Newcastle manager, Steve Bruce and whether the new owners see him as the right man for the change they want to take the club through, with Leicester City's Brendan Rodgers among the top candidates being eyed.
Newcastle were hoping to get their first league win of the campaign, having drawn three and lost four of their opening seven games against a Spurs side that was also looking to end their miserable run on the road, following their last two trips to Crystal Palace and Arsenal, where they lost 3-0 and 3-1 respectively.
The home fans must have been bursting with so much energy and belief when their team raced into the lead in the first 120 seconds. A switch of play allowed Allan Saint-Maximin release Javier Manquillo on the right side. The right back pulled a cross into the box to be met by the head of Calum Wilson. St. James Park was definitely thrown into wild celebrations.
The home team enjoyed their lead while it lasted until the 17th minute, when Tottenham drew level through Tanguy Ndombele, who seems to have found a place back into the Spurs team under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Sergio Reguilion making a nice move on the left before cutting inside to setup Ndombele on the edge of the box. The French midfielder does well to find the top corner and restore parity.
It would not be long before Tottenham went ahead as Harry Kane finally got his first league goal of the campaign after eight games. A lofted ball by Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg above the Magpies defence was lobbed over the on-rushing Karl Darlow by Kane. The goal was initially ruled out for offside, however, VAR review showed that Manquillo had kept the Spurs captain onside and the goal stood. The Newcastle fans must have felt hard done.
Wilson may be kicking himself hard in retrospect that he could have dragged his team back into the game in the 31st minute when he found himself in the 18-yard and rather than go for goal himself, he decided to find Saint Maximin, who is denied any contact with the ball by the backtracking Reguilion.
Lucas Moura almost increased the visitors lead with five minutes of the first half to play when his header from a Heung-Min Son cross came off the the top of the bar.
The game was brought to a halt by referee Andre Mariner shortly afterwards as there was a medical emergency of a Newcastle fan who had slumped and the attention of the medics and officials was brought to it by Reguilion and Eric Dier. The game was only able to continue after about 24 minutes when the fan had been confirmed stabilized and rushed to the hospital.
Spurs were the better team after the restart and accordingly got their third goal of the game. Lucas Moura with the much work to release Kane, who finds Son with a cross across the face of goal to allow the South Korean tap in his team's third goal.
There was no much action in the second period until the final half hour when there were two penalty shouts by either side. First, it was Joe Willock who went down from a challenge by Emerson Royal, before a cross from Hojbjerg was also deemed by Spurs' players to have been blocked by the hand of Matt Ritchie.
The mountain became tougher to climb for Newcastle as they were reduced to 10 men in the 83rd minute after Jonjo Shelvey, who had only being on for about 23 minutes was shown his second yellow card of the game.
Hope was, however, rekindled for the hosts with less than three minutes to go when Eric Dier turned the ball into his own net from a Jacob Murphy free kick.
Concluding Thoughts
It was a heave of huge relief for Spurs as they ended their poor run away from home. Eric and Dier and Sergio Reguilion were also named Co-men of the match for their efforts with the fan who had an emergency.
Steve Bruce would understand more than ever that his job has further become under fire as Newcastle battle relegation and with the new owners looking to rejig the squad, it may be the beginning of the end of his reign at St. James Park.
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