Newcastle 1-1 Everton: Moment of madness sees Toon drop two points

A frustrating end to what was very nearly a precious 1-0 win at St James' Park, as missed chances and Paul Dummett's moment of madness gifted Everton a late penalty and a share of the spoils.

Alexander Isak took his tally to 15 for the season with a classy finish in a first half we controlled, Dan Burn had one chalked off by VAR and we had chances to make sure of the victory, but it's two points dropped in our quest for Europe against a pretty toothless Toffees side.

It's a chance missed to move back up to seventh on a night where West Ham drew at home to Spurs, although it feels typical of our season that we went into the match carrying knocks and missing several key men, with fatigue also a factor as so many who gave their all to beat West Ham had to go again tonight.  In a way, it felt like the tale of our season that we've not quite been able to build on the momentum gained from Saturday.

It kicked off with 12 senior players missing in Trippier, Botman, Lascelles, Joelinton, Tonali, Wilson, Gordon, Targett, Livramento, Pope, Almiron and Miley. That meant four changes from Saturday as Emil Krafth, Lewis Hall, Elliot Anderson and Harvey Barnes replaced Lascelles, Livramento, Willock (bench) and Gordon, who was out through suspension against his former club. 

We made a fast start and almost took the lead just a few minutes in, only for Pickford to parry Barnes’ effort. Tarkowski should’ve opened the scoring soon after with a huge chance at the back post, but it was that man Alexander Isak who broke the deadlock. Barnes’ lobbed ball in behind was clever and Isak capitalised, gliding past two Everton defenders before sliding into the far corner beyond Pickford’s little arms.

It was a strong first half display. Hall added some zip to our play at left-back, Anderson was aggressive and always finding space, the front three looked lively and there was a noticeable change about our approach. We kept the ball better - perhaps confidence had grown from Saturday’s big win - and we were patient in building attacks. A smart move considering the tired legs and number of injuries, giving us control of the match and little opportunity for Everton to catch us on the counter.

They were poor at both ends and there for the taking. The only slight frustration was our failure to make it two, as Isak and Murphy both fired marginally over from the edge of the box before the latter had a goal-bound volley blocked after latching onto Longstaff’s glancing header.

Our left side was the big positive. Barnes’ assist for the ice cool Isak, Hall was sharp on the ball and surprisingly strong in the air, with Anderson arguably the player of the half. He added physicality, ingenuity and aggression to our midfield, picking up pockets of space, a lovely pass in behind for Isak and offering plenty of fight in the other direction.

I expected Everton to be better in the second half, but we came out the blocks slowly. Too many sloppy giveaways gave them encouragement, yet it was us who nearly made it 2-0 as a corner deflected onto Pickford’s far post. We thought we had doubled our advantage moments later as a quick free kick saw Isak find Burn for a tap in, but VAR had other ideas as replays showed the Swede was marginally offside.

Everton made a triple change and one of them almost made an instant impact as Garner hit the side of the post. At the other end, some great work from Barnes ended in a big chance for Isak, only for his close range effort to be blocked on the line by Branthwaite before Barnes fired over from Krafth’s cross soon after.

Schar made a huge tackle to deny Mykolenko from matching onto Calvert-Lewin’s knockdown and Burn also stepped up with some vital tackles and headers in the box to clear the danger. We didn’t have the same level of control we’d enjoyed in the first half and it was clear we were tiring, with limited options on the bench to change the game.

Joe Willock replaced Anderson, who was running out of gas after his first league start since returning from a back injury and a fatigued Hall was replaced by Dummett. Ironic cheers followed, yet it would be the Geordie defender who’d cost us.

Everton were pushing for an equaliser with just over five minutes remaining and we handed them their chance to draw level, as VAR instructed the referee to go to the monitor after Dummett brought down Young in the box. A moment of madness from our forgotten man and Calvert-Lewin stepped up and scored his first in 24 games. It wasn't convincing as Dubravka got a hand to it, but it drew Everton level in a game we should have put to bed against a pretty toothless Toffees side who'd scored just eight in their previous 12 games. 

Nine minutes of added time were signalled but there was no late heroics this time, just a late gift that felt like two points dropped. On another night, we'd win that 2-0 and praise the lads for a big effort in light of all our injuries. We just ran out of steam, missed our chances to double our lead and made a costly mistake when minutes away from a 1-0 win.

Next up, a trip to Fulham on Saturday before Tottenham come to Tyneside next weekend.

NUFC XI: Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Burn, Hall, Bruno, Longstaff, Anderson, Murphy, Barnes, Isak.

SUBS: Karius, Gillespie, Dummett, Ritchie, Willock, White, Diallo, A.Murphy, Parkinson