April 09, (THEWILL) – Newcastle beat Wolves 1-0 at home on Friday night, thanks to a penalty from Chris Wood in the 72nd minute of their tight encounter.
The Magpies ended a run of three consecutive Premier League defeats to move 10 points clear of the relegation zone, while Bruno Lage’s side missed out on a chance to push into the top six.
Early in the game, Bruno Guimaraes’ beautiful ball over the top of the Wolves defence allowed Miguel Almiron – who came on as a 12th-minute substitute for Ryan Fraser – the first half’s decent chance of goal, but the Paraguayan could not keep his half-volley down.
Soon later, Newcastle thought they had taken the lead with a scruffy goal. Guimaraes once again found Almiron, who smartly flicked the ball back into the Brazilian’s path before he passed the ball across goal for Chris Wood to tap in following a Willy Boly and Jonny mix-up.
Unfortunately, Guimaraes was offside in the build-up, and the goal was ruled out after a VAR review.
In the 48th minute, referee Peter Bankes graciously called a halt to a first half that ended with a whimper as neither side managed to register a shot on target.
After the break, Wood brought down Fabian Schar’s soaring free-kick and the ball fell to Dan Burn, but the lanky centre-back was unable to get a clear effort away.
At the other end, Hwang Hee-Chan cut inside Emil Krafth for Wolves’ first half-chance of the evening, but the Swedish defender recovered in time to block the South Korean’s attempt from the edge of the box.
As Wolves began to push more than a couple of bodies forward, a Joao Moutinho cross through the six-yard box just eluded Conor Coady and Fabio Silva, while Allan Saint-Maximin twice shot into row Z of the Gallowgate End from a counter.
As the Magpies attempted to retake control of a game in desperate need of quality, the French attacker hammered a cross-cum-shot right across the face of goal, with no one to poke it home.
With 20 minutes of regulation time left, Saint-clever Maximin’s sent Joelinton forward with a pass that Joelinton immediately laid off for Wood. But, the Newcastle man was pulled down by the onrushing Jose Sa under little contact. The referee pointed to the spot immediately.
New Zealand international, Wood stepped up and scored with aplomb from the penalty spot, giving the hosts a crucial lead.
It could quickly have been double advantage for Eddie Howe’s side as Saint-Maximin teed up Guimaraes, but the retreating Moutinho got a critical touch to deflect the goal-bound shot out for a corner.
Fabio Silva could not keep his header from Marcal’s high cross on goal, but his snap shot pushed Martin Dubravka to make a low save moments later. In the other post, Sa was forced into one final save by a Joelinton attempt after Boly failed to clear a long ball into the Wolves area, but Newcastle held on to win all three points.
As a consequence of the outcome, Newcastle move up to 14th place, while Wolves remain in eighth place.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
