Newcastle, Aston Villa play to a 1-all draw. Jamaal Lascelles scored in stoppage time to rescue a point for relegation-threatened Newcastle following a dramatic finale against Aston Villa at St James’ Park.
A largely dull encounter had looked destined to end goalless before Ollie Watkins‘ header deflected off Ciaran Clark and went in off the underside of the bar to put Villa ahead with just minutes remaining.
But Newcastle snatched a point when Lascelles headed in Jacob Murphy’s cross in the last action of the game.
It was arguably a deserved equaliser for the hosts, who had been the better side for much of the game but just lacked quality in the final third.
They had also hit the bar through Murphy moments before Villa had taken the lead.
The point does little to ease Newcastle’s relegation concerns – they are two points above the bottom three and could drop into the relegation zone if results go against them this weekend.
But the fight shown to battle back after going behind so late on will give Newcastle fans some hope that their side can pull away from danger in the remaining games.
The point for Aston Villa, meanwhile, means they remain ninth, five points off the top six. Well, well, well. After 80 minutes of utter dross, the teams finally put on a show in the final 10. Having taken the lead in the 86th minute through a Ciaran Clark own goal, Aston Villa somehow contrived to throw away victory.
In the final minute of injury time, they failed to clear the ball from the edge of their own penalty area, the ball went wide to Jacob Murphy and Isaac Hayden gave two defenders the dlip to power a near past header past the helpless Emi Martinez.
A draw is probably the fair result, but Villa will be absolutely gutted to have lost. They stay in ninth play, while Newcastle inch another point clear of the relegation zone. They’re two clear of Brighton and Fulham.
Source – BBC News
