Last ditch Wolves winner condemns 10 man Newcastle United to ninth Premier League defeat

Matt Doherty's last ditch winner denied 10 man Newcastle United a deserved Premier League point at St James's Park.
DeAndre Yedlin was controversially sent off for Newcastle with half an hour left to playDeAndre Yedlin was controversially sent off for Newcastle with half an hour left to play
DeAndre Yedlin was controversially sent off for Newcastle with half an hour left to play

The game will be heaped in a post-match debate after DeAndre Yedlin was shown his marching orders when he was controversially deemed as the last man for a foul on Diogo Jota.

Jota himself opened the scoring for the visitors in the first-half before shortly after Ayoze Perez silenced his critics with his second goal of the season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, United were to be dealt a cruel blow as Doherty popped up in fourth minute of injury time to stop the Magpies from going four points above the relegation places.

Benitez reverted back to three central defenders after enduring success with the system at Burnley, two weeks ago.

Three changes were made as Ciaran Clark, Matt Ritchie and Ayoze Perez returned in place of the suspended Fabian Schar, Javier Manquillo and Jacob Murphy, who dropped out of the match day squad all together.

Despite making the brighter beginnings in which Salomon Rondon brought a save from Rui Patricio after 38 seconds, the Magpies momentarily fell behind when Lascelles lost Jota from Helder Costa’s cross.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Perez restored parity, six minutes later­­. It looked like the chance had gone when Rondon’s free-kick crashed off the underside of the bar, however the striker collected the Wolves clearance to expertly pick out the Spaniard.

While the St James’s Park crowd was galvanised, there wasn’t much to note heading to the interval with Rondon and Federico Fernandez bringing routines saves from Rui Patricio.

It had taken a while for the second-half to get going but it soon burst into life when Yedlin, who joined the back three after Fernandez departed the break, became the first Newcastle player to be sent on Tyneside since Jonjo Shelvey’s against Everton almost a year ago.

Referee Mike Dean had no hesitation in going to his back pocket as the American got caught in a tussle with Jota on the right-hand side of the penalty area.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Whether it was the correct call or not will be up for much debate as it seemed Lascelles was on the cover, making him the last man.

Wolves began to make their one-man advantage count in the final quarter of an hour when they broke from Ki Sung-yueng’s corner - substitute Raul Jimenez the next to strike the Gallowgate End upright.

Dean almost cost Newcastle a point when Perez went down with a clear head injury, however he allowed play to continue with Doherty thwarted brilliantly by Martin Dubravka.

But Wolves, without really meriting their victory, knicked it right at the end when Dubravka parried Jota's shot with Doherty on hand to tap home.