Returning Cristian Romero produced a two-goal captain’s performance including a stoppage time overhead kick to earn us a dramatic point at St James’ Park on Tuesday evening.
Back in the side after serving a one-game suspension on Saturday, the skipper twice cancelled out Newcastle goals as the game exploded into life in the final 20 minutes.
The Magpies’ own captain, Bruno Guimaraes, came off the bench to open the scoring with a fine strike before Romero’s diving header drew us level. Then, after a controversial penalty was converted by Anthony Gordon with four minutes left, our Argentine international scored a spectacular equaliser five minutes into injury time to salvage a 2-2 draw.
Thomas Frank made four changes to the team that started against Fulham on Saturday, with Romero, Brennan Johnson, Pape Matar Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur coming in for Micky van de Ven, Archie Gray, Joao Palhinha and Richarlison.
As they often are on home soil, Newcastle were quickly out of the blocks and had a couple of half-chances in the opening five minutes, Lewis Hall dragging a shot wide and Nick Woltemade heading well over from a Jacob Murphy cross. The Magpies were bossing possession in the early stages as we struggled to get a foothold in the game and Guglielmo Vicario was called into action for the first time after 17 minutes but he comfortably saved Lewis Miley’s shot from the edge of the area.
They went close again 10 minutes before the break as Joelinton got away down the inside right channel and hit a crisp shot from a narrow angle across Vicario which smacked against the far post. We then went up the other end and carved out our first chance, Mohammed Kudus skipping past Hall and his cross was back-flicked over the bar by Lucas Bergvall. That was a moment that seemed to lift our spirits and we finished the half in positive fashion, much more on the front foot and, although we didn’t test Aaron Ramsdale in the Newcastle goal, it gave us something to build on for the second period.
It was our hosts with the first opening after the break though, Vicario saving well with his legs from Harvey Barnes’ angled drive and, as the ball looped up, Woltemade sent a header goalwards which Kevin Danso cleared off the line with a header of his own. Some determined defending from a couple of corners then kept Newcastle out before another set piece came into the danger zone in the 66th minute which Vicario got a good punch on, the ball falling to Tino Livramento 20 yards out and his clean strike was blocked inside the six-yard box by Johnson.
The pressure was building and eventually told when the home side opened the scoring in the 71st minute. Two substitutes did the damage, Gordon bursting down the left flank before sending over a cross which was cleared away but only as far as Guimaraes and he curled right-footed into the far corner. Shortly after, Vicario got down smartly to his right to deny a Miley effort.
We made a triple change in the 77th minute with Mathys Tel, Xavi Simons and Richarlison replacing Johnson, Bergvall and Randal Kolo Muani and within a minute, we’d levelled the scores. Switching the play from left to right through Tel to Pedro Porro to Kudus, the latter then delivered a lovely cross which Romero met with a diving header into the bottom corner past Ramsdale.
But parity was short-lived. At a Newcastle corner with 10 minutes left, Bentancur and Burn fell to the ground and referee Thomas Bramall was advised to check the pitchside monitor for a foul by Bentancur. He duly awarded the penalty and Gordon slammed home from 12 yards. That could have been that, but our captain fantastic had other ideas. Five minutes into stoppage time, Pedro Porro sent over an in-swinging corner which caused havoc in the Newcastle box, players falling to the ground as Ramsdale punched the ball away. One of them was Romero, but he was up quick as a flash to produce a spectacular overhead kick which might have come off his shin, but it bounced through a crowd of players and ended up in the back of the net for an incredible equaliser. We even had time for one more corner as we went for the win, but this Porro cross ended in the arms of Ramsdale as the final whistle blew on a dramatic contest.