Chris Wood’s second-half penalty was enough to give Newcastle victory over Wolves at St James’ Park and surely allayed any lingering relegation fears.
Wood had the ball in the net for the hosts in the first half, turning home from close range after Miguel Almiron had latched onto Bruno Guimares’ smart flick, but VAR ruled the Paraguayan was inches offside.
The former Bunrley striker won the decisive penalty himself when he was played in by Joelinton and taken down by Jose Sa, before sending the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot for his first home goal as a Magpie.
TALKING POINT – NEWCASTLE NEED MORE FIREPOWER
Eddie Howe consolidated his side’s defence after taking over from Steve Bruce and the results have sent the Magpies to the brink of safety but he has done little to make Newcastle a much more potent attacking force than they were under his predecessor. While Chris Wood is a figure a team can play off, he is not the man to rely on for regular goals and the squad is over-stocked with flashy forwards looking to create with the ball rather than those running off it into good positions. This will surely be an area Newcastle should look to strengthen in the summer with a player such as Jarrod Bowen at West Ham the type who would add a lot to this side.
MAN OF THE MATCH – BRUNO GUIMARAES (NEWCASTLE)
In just his fourth start for the Magpies, the Brazilian put in a performance to impress the home fans in his first start at St James’ Park. His creative moment of brilliance for the goal that never was for Chris Wood was the most eye-catching but there was far more than this moment. Expected to be more of a defensive addition he played a little further forward, mostly on the right flank and contributed to most of his side’s good attacking moves.
PLAYER RATINGS
Newcastle United: Dubravka 7; Krafth 6, Schar 6, Burn 7, Targett 6; Shelvey 6, Guimaraes 8*, Joelinton 6; Fraser 6, Saint-Maximin 7; Wood 7.
Subs: Almiron 6, Longstaff 6, Murphy 6.
Wolves: Sa 6; Boly 6, Coady 6, Kilman 7; Jonny 6, Cundle 6, Moutinho 7, Marcal 7; Trincao 6, Hwang 6, Silva 6.
Subs: Neto 6, Campbell 6, Ait Nouri 6,
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
24′ GOAL FOR NEWCASTLE! Poor defending from Wolves but a fantastic flick from Guimares was the key to Wood’s goal. Kilman gave the ball away, then the ball fell to Guimares who flick through to Almiron and his centre led to Wood finishing from close range.
25′ VAR RULES OUT GOAL! With the naked eye it seemed onside but VAR had Almiron just beyond Boly when Guimares produced his eye-catching flick.
70′ PENALTY FOR NEWCASTLE! Joelinton plays in Wood who pushes the ball past Sa and drags his leg to hit the goalkeeper and go over in the box.
72′ GOAL FOR NEWCASTLE! Wood sends the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot.
81′ GREAT STOP FROM DUBRAVKA! Silva with a fine effort on this occasion, turning in from the left and shooting just inside the post but the flying Slovak goalkeeper kept it out.
