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Newcastle United continued their dream home run over Southampton as they defeated the Saints for a fourth consecutive time at St James’ Park. The win came in bittersweet fashion, however, as injuries to key players and a sending off for midfielder Jeff Hendrick, meant that the Toon Army had to put in a gutsy rearguard action to hold onto the three points.
Following a 9-0 demolition at the hands of Manchester United in midweek, Ralph Hassenhutl’s Southampton were unable to fix their defensive fragility in time for this game. A first-half that was marred with defensive errors summed up the vulnerability of the Saints in recent times, and they were duly punished by a Newcastle side who benefitted from the confidence boost that the early goals provided them.
One thing that was clear for Newcastle, was that they were a better side with Allan Saint-Maximin in their starting eleven. Making his first start since a calf injury had upended a strong start to the season, the tricky winger was central to Newcastle’s strong start to the game.
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After beating a hapless Jan Bednarek to the ball down the left-wing, Saint-Maximin surged into the box before picking debutant, Joe Willock, out in the box. The Arsenal loanee made no mistake as he side-footed an effort past Alex McCarthy, giving Newcastle a 16th minute lead. Ten minutes later, the Frenchman was once again at the heart of another goal for the home side as he raced onto a relative lost cause down the left before teeing up Miguel Almiron to double their lead.
The second half capped off what has been a nightmarish few days for Southampton defender, Jan Bednarek. The Polish international had his red card rescinded after being unfairly sent off against Manchester United on Tuesday, but his side had already been 6-0 down when he was given his marching orders – a scoreline not helped by his own-goal.
Bednarek may well have wished that the suspension had stood, after what was a calamitous first half from the centre-back. After getting beaten to the ball by Saint-Maximin in the build-up to the first goal, the Pole could only hold his head in despair after Almiron’s shot towards goal pin-balled between his legs, before bamboozling his ‘keeper, McCarthy as the ball floated helplessly above him and into the net.
The rest of his defence didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory either as just seconds before the half-time whistle, a poor pass from McCarthy was not dealt with well by Bertand, who surrendered possession cheaply to the lively Almiron. The Paraguayan darted towards goal and made no mistake in finding the bottom corner to give the Toon a 3-1 lead.
Despite the defensive blunders, the Saints did have positives to take from the other end of the pitch. In a surprise deadline day loan move, Takumi Minamino has fitted seamlessly into the Southampton midfield and dragged Hassenhutl’s side back into the contest when he took Bertrand’s pass with a marvellous first touch before thundering the ball past Karl Darlow to make it 2-1.
James Ward Prowse’s magical set-piece profligacy also made a return as he arced a superb 30-yard free kick into the top corner and once again cut the deficit as the Englishman made it 3-2 just a few minutes into the second half.
A Southampton equaliser looked even more likely when Irish international, Jeff Hendrick had a moment of complete stupidity as he tugged on the shirt of Minamino whilst already on a yellow card. Given no choice, Craig Pawson was forced to brandish a second yellow card, and ultimately dismiss Hendrick from the pitch.
Steve Bruce’s side were resolute, however as they made life difficult for the Saints, but Southampton still had their chances. The best of them being when Nathan Redmond squared the ball to Danny Ings in the box, with the striker’s effort rebounding off the post and into the grateful arms of Darlow.
Newcastle were then forced to play with nine men after Fabian Schär had to be stretchered off following a challenge with Bednarek, but a gutsy last 15 minutes from a truly makeshift defence, held off the pressure applied from Southampton.
Here are the best tweets from a hard-fought New Castle victory at home.
