Steve Bruce has been under lots of pressure over the current form of his team after picking three points in his six games. Newcastle United put up a wonderful performance against Everton on the 30th of January after which they lost at home to Crystal Palace.
Their next fixture against Southampton was one to look forward to as the Saints were coming into the game with a nine-goal hammering from Manchester United.
Newcastle United started their fixture against Southampton on the front foot as they needed a win to increase their chances of staying further away from the relegation zone and they had to do it the hard way.
In the opening minutes at the St. James Park, in the opened 16’ of the first half Joseph Willock opened the scoring for Newcastle United. His goal helped boost the confidence of Newcastle as they went on to find the second ten minutes after.
Miguel Almiron who has been key in the Newcastle setup had his name on the score sheet with both goals assisted by Allan Saint-Maximin. It was all looking good for Newcastle United until in the 30’ when Liverpool loanee Takumi Minamino pulled one back for the saints.
Almiron who was having a good game added his second in the added minutes of the first half to give his side a cushion. The first half ended 3-1 with Newcastle having the advantage.
It only took Southampton 3’ into the second half to pull another goal back after James Ward-Prowse scored a beautiful free-kick outside the 18-yard box. The real battle for Newcastle and Steve Bruce started as Jeff Hendrick who picked a yellow card in the 11’ of the game was shown another yellow card which reduced Newcastle United to 10 men. Steve Bruce after his side went down by a man made some tactical changes which happened to be his last change in the game.
Steve Bruce had effected his three changes after Callum Wilson and Javier Manquillo picked up injuries in the early stages of the first half and Allan Saint-Maximin after Jeff Hendrik picked a red card. In the 78’, Fabian Schaer picked a knee injury after attacking a 50/50 ball and was taken off.
Newcastle United had to battle it out with nine men against Southampton for twelve plus minutes of the game and did so tirelessly with their 3-2 lead at the St. James Park. Jonjo Shelvy joined Isaac Hayden and Jamal Lewis to shepherd the Newcastle defense to victory at the end of the final whistle.
I am a young and vibrant sports journalist from Ghana, a member of the Sports Writers’ Association of Ghana(SWAG), and working with Sports Preview Ghana and sports reporting outfit poised to bring all the latest and trending sports news around the globe.
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