Newcastle 1-1 Norwich: Moment of madness spoils spirited display from 10-man Toon
A gutsy performance from Newcastle United - who played 80 minutes with 10 men - but a result that leaves us in huge trouble.
We looked much the better side in the opening stages, however were immediately facing a huge uphill task when Ciaran Clark was stupidly sent off for a blatant pull back on Teemu Pukki.
To our credit, we worked tirelessly and gave as good as we got, at times, against a pretty awful Norwich side who would've been there for the taking had it been 11 vs 11.
As some feared we'd sit off and settle for a point in what had been dubbed a must-win game, VAR handed us the chance to go 1-0 after Federico Fernandez's effort was adjudged to have hit a Norwich hand.
Wilson stepped up and, despite a glancing touch from Tim Krul that left 50,000 inside St James' Park holding their breath, the ball clipped the bar and tricked over the line. The Gallowgate went wild and suddenly we had a lead to protect.
We did well to keep Norwich at bay for the next 20 minutes, with Fernandez a man mountain at the back - proving why he should walk into this feeble NUFC defence - and Joelinton putting in a huge shift down the right-hand side.
However, with 81 minutes on the clock, Norwich found the late leveller we were all dreading.
Dubravka failed to hold on to an aimless cross hung up to the back post, the ball was fired back across the box and Pukki smashed a superb volley into the top left corner.
When we knew the importance of all three points and we were so close to pulling off what would've been an outstanding win in the circumstances, this one really hurt.
Saying that, it could've got worse had Dubravka not redeemed himself by making a brilliant late save to deny Lees-Melou - who burst through down the left after dispossessing Schar in an awful area.
There were a few bizarre boos at the full-time whistle. Maybe they were born out of sheer frustration at our current predicament and ongoing search for our first win of the season, but I find it baffling that anyone could have a pop at the players for the effort they put in tonight.
To make matters worse on an already difficult night, relegation rivals Leeds beat Crystal Palace via a 94th minute spot kick of their own to move eight clear of ourselves.
With the fixtures coming our way in December, some felt we had to beat both Norwich tonight AND Burnley on Saturday to stand a chance of staying up.
Four points from the two felt like the absolute minimum - if not a few points short of what we REALLY need - so let's hope we put things right with a much needed win this weekend.
Failure to do so and it might be time to start preparing for the Championship come January. It's not over until it's over - and the lads showed plenty of fight out there - but things really will start looking desperate if we head into games against Leicester, Liverpool, Man City and Man Utd without a win on the board.
A spirited effort from the lads and an equally good atmosphere tonight, yet individual errors continue to haunt us as our wait for win number one of the season goes on.
I wouldn't care, we'd have won tonight with 11 men. What a sickener.
