Newcastle 1-0 Wolves: Wood off the mark at St James' Park as Toon secure huge win
A well deserved win for Newcastle United and first goal at St James' Park for Chris Wood, who scored a second half penalty to seal a 1-0 victory over Wolves on Friday night.
The result ends our run of three-straight defeats, sending us up to 14th, just three points away from the top half and 10 clear of the bottom three ahead of upcoming games against Leicester, Crystal Palace and Norwich.
We were comfortably the better side in the opening 45 minutes, catching them on the ball high up the pitch, enjoying more possession and having a Wood 'goal' disallowed after Guimaraes was ruled offside, but we didn't do enough in the final third to punish an off the boil Wolves side who looked there for the taking early on.
Thankfully, we defended well in the second half as Wolves threw more at us and found that all important break through in the 72nd minute, with Wood bagging his first goal at St James' Park from the spot after being brought down by Sa.
Bruno Guimaraes was the best player on the pitch and deserved to be on the winning side more than any other player in a black and white shirt tonight, showing his composure, class and all-round awareness in an all-action performance in the middle of the park.
Eddie Howe made two changes from the side that lost heavily last weekend, seeing Bruno Guimaraes and Emil Krafth replace Joe Willock and Javier Manquillo - meaning our £35m Brazilian made his first start since sealing a January move from Lyon.
STARTING 11: Dubravka – Krafth, Schar, Burn, Targett – Guimaraes, Shelvey (c), Joelinton – Fraser, Wood, Saint-Maximin.
SUBS: Darlow, Dummett, Lascelles, Manquillo, Ritchie, Longstaff, Murphy, Almiron, Gayle.
The crowd were in good voice under the lights at St James' Park and the players also looked up for it from the off, passing the ball around confidentially in the early stages and pressing well as Wolves looked happy to sit deep and hit on the counter.
Sadly, we were dealt a cruel blow on the 10-minute mark, as Ryan Fraser was forced early after pulling his hamstring. He tried to continue but was soon replaced by Miguel Almiron - and looked visibly devastated to have suffered what looks like an injury that'll keep him out for at least a few weeks.
Wolves were barely getting out their own half, so the emphasis was on us to move the ball quickly and break them down. We were comfortably the better side as we reached the 20-minute mark and had our first real sight of goal when Almiron latched on to a clever ball in behind from Schar, but the Paraguayan couldn't keep his shot down.
That was the one criticism midway through the first half. We'd enjoyed 62% possession but hadn't managed an effort on target for all our positive approach play.
That changed when a brilliant flick from Almiron got put Guimaraes in down the right. He then fired a ball across the box, Wolves failed to clear and Wood poked home. The crowd went wild and the big Kiwi thought he'd bagged his first goal at St James' Park, yet VAR replays showed Bruno was in an offside position and the goal was disallowed.
That was a wake-up call for Wolves. They'd started pretty awfully - giving the ball away in an awful position for Wood's 'goal' and sitting very deep - so were ordered to push up by Bruno Lage in a bid to impose themselves on the game. But that didn't last long as they soon reverted to being camped in their own half.
A lovely one-two between Joelinton and Targett got the big man in down the left just before the 40-minute mark, however the Brazilian's cross was well cut out and Wolves cleared.
Shelvey then released Almiron down the right with a lovely ball around the corner, but Miggy's left-footed effort was blocked after he cut inside. Another half chance that wasn't fully capitalised on came just before the break, as Schar took the free-kick he did well to win but struck the wall.
It was a solid first half where we'd completely controlled the game, enjoying more of the ball, robbing the visitors of possession high up the pitch and barely allowing Wolves anyone near Dubravka's goal. However, our lack of cutting edge in the final third, poor decision making and limited movement had to improve heading into the final 45 minutes, with us failing to register a single shot on target so far.
Guimaraes stood out a millions miles at times with his work on and off the ball, but Shelvey and Joelinton needed to offer a little bit more. Dare I say it, we were missing Joe Willock's driving runs and late arrival into the box; something that could've also created space for the tightly-marked Allan Saint-Maximin.
Wolves had clearly been given a good talking to at half-time and came out with more attacking intent. Forcing their first corner of the game soon after the restart.
Our first shot on target then arrived five minutes later as Wood flicked on a long ball into Dan Burn's path. The Geordie giant took it first time and did well to keep his effort down, but it was too close to Jose Sa and comfortably saved.
That chance aside, we'd come out slowly and were second best in the early stages. We weren't controlling the game like we had done in the first 45 and almost went 1-0 down after an erratic piece of defending from Fabian Schar helped Hwang get in down the left.
Thankfully, the South Korean's shot was well blocked by Krafth, but Schar was caught out again moments later, receiving the first yellow card of the game after bringing down Fabio Silva cynically.
We needed to wake up, with another warning sign arriving just before the hour mark when Moutinho flashed a wicked ball across the box after Almiron lost flight of a diagonal pass down Wolves' left.
Frustrations then grew a few minutes later, as Allan Saint-Maximin overhit a simple pass just moments after blazing over the bar, but the crowd soon belted out "who's that team we call united" to give the players a much needed boost with half an hour to play.
Our next opening saw Bruno Guimaraes find himself in space down the right with plenty to pick out in the box. His ball across goal fell to Saint-Maximin, however the Frenchman's finish was erratic once again, seeing him blast way over to leave heads in hands at the Gallowgate.
ASM then got in behind himself after beating the offside trap, but his cross-come-shot evaded Chris Wood. Another moment we failed to capitalise on, yet we were handed a huge chance to take the lead when a quick counter-attack saw Joelinton put Wood clean through - only for the former Burnley man to be brought down in the box by Sa!
Penalty to Newcastle and a chance Wood was NOT going to pass up after having one chalked off early in the game, as he sent Sa the wrong way to score his first goal at St James' Park in front of the Gallowgate! 1-0 Newcastle.
It was almost 2-0 moments later when some lovely hold up play from Wood released Saint-Maximin down the left. Maxi cut inside, got his head up and shifted it to Bruno inside the box, but the Brazilian's shot deflected just wide of the far post.
St James' Park was rocking and there was a genuine feeling around the ground that this was our chance to all but secure our Premier League status, knowing a win here would send us 10 clear of the bottom three.
However, with Wolves still pursuing Europe and a win away from the top six, they came back at us in the final 15 minutes, starting with a Fabio Silva header that the young striker should've done much better with.
Silva then mustered up a much better effort seconds later, this time forcing Dubravka into a brilliant near post save that the Slovakian did well to get down to before a tame effort from Jonny was hit straight at the NUFC stopper from range.
Bruno Guimaraes - who had been comfortably the best player on the pitch - then went off to a standing ovation just before four minutes of stoppage time was signalled, seeing Sean Longstaff come on in his place.
After a Saint-Maximin break away saw him fire a low shot at Sa, Dubravka then came up trumps again by collecting a high ball into the box with little over 60 seconds left to play.
Jacob Murphy then came on for the Frenchman in the final moments of the match and the full-time whistle followed, signalling another huge win at St James' Park for Newcastle United. - sending us 10 clear of the drop zone and the whole of St James' Park home happy!
Next up, a meeting with Leicester City next Sunday.
Get in! HWTL.
