Alexander Isak’s brace reignited Newcastle’s top-four ambitions with a dramatic 4-3 win over Nottingham Forest in a seven-goal thriller at St James’ Park.
Lewis Miley’s strike and Jacob Murphy’s close-range effort in the 23rd and 25th minutes respectively put Newcastle ahead from behind, before Isak netted a 33rd minute penalty following Ola Aina’s handball of Lewis Hall’s cross.
Isak scored his second goal just over a minute later with a tightly-executed strike from Joe Willock’s pass.
Forest opened the scoring with a sixth-minute strike by Callum Hudson-Odoi from 20 yards after he intercepted Jacob Murphy’s touch of Tino Livramento’s throw-in.
Nikola Milenkovic added the visitors’ second goal from a close-range 63rd-minute flick-in effort, whilst Ryan Yates put away their third goal from a 90th minute corner as the visitors ultimately mounted a futile second-half fightback.
Newcastle now sit fifth in the Premier League table whilst Forest remain in third position.
Speaking to Sky Sports post-match, Isak was pleased to get the win after a “sloppy” second-half display with a drop in their intensity.
“It was a brilliant first half, the reaction after conceding was really good. We dropped a bit second half and conceded sloppy goals. I’m obviously happy to win the game.”
Sat three points adrift of the final Champions League spot following a brutal defeat at Manchester City in their last outing, Newcastle made a positive start as an early free-kick was cleared.
Forest however have been a firm counter-attacking threat all season and they proved their reputation as Hudson-Odoi intercepted Livramento’s throw-in to Murphy, which left him free to fire into the near-left corner from 20 yards to put the visitors ahead.
Lewis Miley soon proved to be Newcastle’s brightest spark as he fired wide from a tenth-minute free-kick which was knocked down into his path, as Eddie Howe’s Magpies continued to press for an equaliser.
Newcastle’s efforts eventually were rewarded as a 23rd-minute free-kick found Hall who teed up Miley to fire into the right corner on-the-turn to restore parity.
That goal soon opened the floodgates for the hosts as just two minutes later, Nick Pope saved Hudson-Odoi’s curled effort which sparked a counter-attack that culminated in Hall’s low cross being deflected for Murphy to bundle in from close range to turn the match around.
Hall continued to be in the thick of the action as his 28th-minute cross was handballed by Ola Aina on the full-back’s right arm, which led VAR to intervene in a near-three minute discussion, which led referee – Jarred Gillett to award a penalty.
Isak stepped up just past the 33rd minute mark and dispatched his penalty high down the middle, which ex Newcastle goalkeeper – Matz Sels could only helplessly flap into his own net to put the Magpies ahead by a two-goal margin.
Sels soon found himself beaten again Isak just over a minute later as the Swede rifled low into the far-right corner after he met Joe Willock’s pass up the left to put Newcastle in firm control at half-time.
Their three-goal deficit at the break fired Forest up for the second half as they came out and quickly dominated the attack, yet Anthony Elanga could only volley over at the right post in the 54th minute.
Forest soon got their reward for a bright restart as a 63rd minute corner found ex Newcastle striker, Wood to volley a pass over for Milenkovic to flick in their second goal, which offered Nuno Espirito Santo’s Tricky Trees hope of staging a cracking comeback.
Those hopes rose further after substitute, Yates fired in from a 90th minute corner which was deflected into his path.
Newcastle ultimately dug deep defensively to cling on for victory which lifted them up to fifth and outside of the top four on goal difference.
What’s Next?
Newcastle head to Liverpool on Wednesday 26 February at 8:15pm GMT to face the league leaders at Anfield, before they return home to face Brighton in their FA Cup fifth-round tie on Sunday 2 March at 1:45pm.
Forest meanwhile meet Arsenal at the City Ground that same evening in a 7:30pm GMT kick-off, which is followed by their FA Cup fifth-round tie at home to Ipswich on Monday 3 March at 7:30pm.
Teams
Newcastle: Nick Pope, Tino Livramento, Fabian Schar, Dan Burn, Lewis Hall, Lewis Miley, Bruno Guimaraes, Joe Willock (Tonali 70′), Jacob Murphy (Barnes 70′), Alexander Isak (Wilson 87′), Anthony Gordon
Substitutes: Harvey Barnes, Martin Dubravka, Emil Krafth, Sean Longstaff, William Osula, Matt Targett, Sandro Tonali, Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson
Forest: Matz Sels, Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams, Nicolas Dominguez (Yates 76′), Elliott Anderson (Sangare 77′), Callum Hudson-Odoi, Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga, Chris Wood
Substitutes: Taiwo Awoniyi, Jota Silva, Wayne Hennessey, Alex Moreno, Morato, Ibrahim Sangare, Ramon Sosa, Harry Toffolo, Ryan Yates
Leave a Reply