Newcastle 1-0 HuddersfieldAyoze Pérez’s late strike helps Newcastle add to Huddersfield worries
With a delicate swipe of the right foot Ayoze Pérez pushed Newcastle within touching distance of Premier League survival and intensified Huddersfield’s relegation fears.
Do not be deceived by the skinny scoreline; Rafael Benítez’s side deserved a win which showcased Jonjo Shelvey’s claims to an England playmaking spot on a day when David Wagner’s players seemed to have run out of ideas and adrenaline.
“Huddersfield are well organised and dangerous on the counterattack,” said Benítez who, perhaps significantly, did not find a place on the bench for the previously influential but latterly out-of-sorts Mikel Merino. “But I told the players to stay calm and a chance would come.”
When it did, it lifted Newcastle to 12th, seven points clear of the drop zone. Benítez’s side now have 35 points, four more than Huddersfield but Wagner remains optimistic that his team can also survive.
“We wanted to frustrate Newcastle and minimise their chances,” said the German. “It was defensively one of our best performances and this gives me enough confidence for the future. But we deserved at least a point for the great defending and great attitudes my players have shown.”
The first half was punctuated by much nervous defending from an edgy Huddersfield as they were hit by wave upon wave of Newcastle attacks. Fortunately for the visitors, Benítez’s players were more than a little anxious themselves, their desperation to claim an early goal reflected in considerable snatching at the ball as pass after pass was rushed.
As a result, bar Jonas Lössl watching a Shelvey shot whizz past a post and then doing extremely well to divert Matt Ritchie’s goalbound effort with his feet, Wagner’s goalkeeper was surprisingly under-employed at St James’ Park.
Jonathan Hogg found the going particularly tough against Shelvey and Mo Diamé. His consequent frustration was manifested by a booking for a foul on Pérez, which led to the concession of a free-kick, from which the industrious Dwight Gayle sent a clever lob over the advancing Lössl before watching it drift narrowly wide of an upright. Gayle subsequently connected with DeAndre Yedlin’s cross only to shoot fractionally too high.
If Shelvey’s repertoire of vision-fuelled, defence-splitting passes lifted the gloom on an unseasonably cold, extremely wet Tyneside afternoon - which saw Benítez unusually, and strangely reluctantly, resort to wearing a coat - Laurent Depoitre symbolised Huddersfield’s travails.
Isolated, he did his best to defend from the front but, generally, had a solitary timeand foraged ever deeper for possession.
As the hour mark approached, though, Depoitre issued the defence with a warning. Belying his imposing physical bulk, he swivelled before dragging a low shot just wide. Newcastle were losing control of the tempo and allowing opponents who had previously appeared incapable of stringing two passes together back into things.
The time had come for the lesser-spotted Islam Slimani’s long-awaited debut. Sure enough, in the 75th minute Benítez’s hitherto injured £2m January loan signing from Leicester, pulled on a pair of woolly black gloves and stepped off the bench to replace Gayle.
Within minutes Slimani had a hand in Pérez’s goal. The Algeria striker served as a nuisance value filled decoy, distracting Lössl before the Spaniard directed the ball low into the bottom corner from close range following Christian Atsu’s cross and Kenedy’s unselfish, quietly brilliant, short flicked pass. Appropriately Pérez had begun the move courtesy of a glorious pass to Atsu dispatched with the outside of his boot.
Almost imperceptibly the skies above Gallowgate switched from slate grey to sunwashed blue.
Guardian
