Wasteful Newcastle Duly Punished

Newcastle’s relegation worries were increased when Billy Jones’ 64th minute strike cancelled out Newcastle’s early lead, in a match that was a great advertisement for the term, “A game of two halves.”

The visitors began the game well, playing nice, simple football, and doing well to cope with West Brom’s physical style of play. That’s why it only took them eight minutes to score, with Papiss Cisse’s clever movement allowing him the space to find Yoan Gouffran with a cross which the Frenchman converted beautifully, past Ben Foster who was caught in no-man’s-land.

The goal was the beginning of an enjoyed half-hour-long domination from Newcastle. They were comfortable in possession, they found the right balance between defense and attack, and, most importantly, they did extremely well to subdue Baggies dangerman Romelu Lukaku.

The French Connection was running like clockwork, with Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko and Mathieu Debuchy combining very well down that right hand side. It was nice for Newcastle supporters to see a return to form from the aforementioned Cabaye, whose recent performances had been frustrating and lackluster. Not today though. His passing was crisp, and he did well to break up the opposition’s attacks.

Newcastle were a goal up, and there should’ve been no excuses if they went in at half-time with only one. Steven Taylor had a huge chance when he managed to get in behind the Baggies defense, only to direct his shot straight at Foster.

Cabaye also went close with a long-range volley, and Cisse had a header scooped up safely by the former England number one.

Cisse had a large number of chances; he too had a volley saved, but his best chance was where he managed to latch onto Jonas Olsson’s misplaced pass, however, only to scoop the ball over the bar. A real chance gone to waste. Newcastle simply weren’t being clinical enough.

It was only towards half-time when West Brom started to get more into the game, with Chris Brunt and Quinton Fortune spearheading their attacks.

A largely controversial event occurred two minutes into stoppage time, as James Perch made a clumsy challenge on Graham Dorrans just inside the area, however, the referee Mike Jones only saw it as a free-kick outside the area, infuriating the West Brom players. Replays showed that it was very obviously within the box, and it could’ve been a real turning point in the match, just before the half-time whistle blew.

Half-time had obviously resulted in some really inspirational words from Steve Clark, as West Brom almost scored as soon as the second half began. Fortune had his effort spilled by Rob Elliot, which fell to Shane Long, who really should’ve scored. Credit to Rob Elliot, however, who amended his mistake by reacting well to stop Long’s shot.

Something was different about West Brom now, which led to Newcastle struggling to get out of their own half for the next fifteen minutes.

The Baggies had many, many corner kicks, which they didn’t manage to convert into goals, and Newcastle fans blew sighs of relief. They were really starting to regret their failure to score a second goal in the first half.

Despite their unsuccessful corners, the goal came soon enough for the Midlands side, as Billy Jones found the space to fire home, bagging his first West Brom goal. Newcastle had been duly punished for their errors.

West Brom weren’t finished; they wanted a second, and James Morrison had a fierce header saved well by Elliot. Also, late on, Long very almost got to Lukaku’s cross, and if contact had been made, it might’ve been game over for Newcastle.

Newcastle’s desperation was highlighted shortly before this incident, when left back Massadio Haidara was brought off for French forward Hatem Ben Arfa. Newcastle appeared to realise how vital three points would be in their campaign to stay in the top flight.

Alas, their urgency didn’t pay off, and the West Brom defense held strong. And, to be honest, if anyone deserved the victory, it was West Brom, who had performed superiorly in the second half.

So, Newcastle remained with only one away win all season, and with Sunderland beating Everton, relegation fears were growing by tenfold. I predict a tense end to the Premier League season for Newcastle.

Leander Winden (@LeanderWinden)