Newcastle beat Southampton in a 5-goal thriller. The Magpies remain in 16th but the result may ease some of the pressure on manager Steve Bruce, whose side are now 11 points clear of the bottom three. Newcastle held on to beat Southampton despite playing the last 18 minutes with nine men, as Miguel Almiron scored twice for the hosts at a rain-soaked St James’ Park.
However, it was a dismal conclusion to the week for Southampton, who were unable to bounce back from their 9-0 defeat at Manchester United despite Jeff Hendrick’s dismissal early in the second half and an injury to Fabian Schar – when the hosts had already made their three substitutions.
“We played half an hour with 10 [men], 20 minutes with nine, we know how difficult that is – Southampton shipped in goal after goal the other night,” Bruce said. “They were terrific in their defense with their attitude and their application to get a result was pretty evident.
“I’m never going to say we’ve turned a corner but I’ve been pleased over the last month. There have been signs of improvement. The players are buying into it, so let’s hope we can get a few more results along the way.”
On-loan Arsenal midfielder Joe Willock gave the hosts a perfect start, steering in Allan Saint-Maximin’s cutback to open the scoring on his debut, before Almiron doubled their lead with a shot that deflected off Saints defender Jan Bednarek.
The Paraguay winger then restored Newcastle’s two-goal advantage after Takumi Minamino lashed in a brilliant debut goal for Southampton.
James Ward-Prowse’s wonderful free-kick had given the visitors hope of rescuing a point even before Hendrick was sent off for two bookings, but a resilient Newcastle clung on. Southampton have now lost five consecutive top-flight games for the first time since September 1998.
Source – BBC News
