Newcastle 2 - 0 West Ham - Newcastle avoid relegation

Newcastle United avoid relegation as Jonás Gutiérrez finishes off West Ham

Newcastle 2 - 0 West Ham

Moussa Sissoko 54
Jonas Gutierrez 85


Jonas Gutierrez of Newcastle United celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal against West Ham

When it was all over, as Newcastle looked back over the wreckage of their season and basked in a pleasure that had been a long time coming, one moment stood out. There was bitterness and there was rancour. Yet the mutiny, for once, was not that of Newcastle’s fans. “***** off Sam Allardyce,” came the song from the most vertiginous part of the Leazes End where the away fans were housed.

West Ham had been generous opponents and it said everything about their decline that a day that threatened such heavy repercussions for Newcastle actually became such a relatively stress-free occasion. As it turned out, Newcastle would have been spared anyway because of Hull’s inability to beat Manchester United. Yet John Carver’s side have waited a long time to experience the explosion of joy that came at the end and, if nothing else, they deserve credit for the way they held their nerve, however much Allardyce’s players sleepwalked through what will be surely be the final game of his time as manager.

The crowd had come to St James’ Park with a brooding sense of foreboding, wondering how their nerves would cope. Instead, it turned into a celebration and a rare sense of passing euphoria, albeit one that finished with a post-match against the owner, Mike Ashley, after the final whistle.

There was also a charming subplot attached to the day that Newcastle ensured they will remain a top-division club. Jonás Gutiérrez did not finish his chemotherapy for testicular cancer until last November and the goal that extinguished any lingering relegations fears was his first since receiving the all-clear to resume his career. This was his farewell appearance because Ashley has chosen not to award him a new contract and it was some way to go.

By that stage, Moussa Sissoko had put Newcastle ahead with a towering header nine minutes into the second half but even before then, it was strange that such a significant day could pass with so little apprehension. Stewart Downing at least carried a flicker of menace but Allardyce’s team have been in relegation form since Christmas and Newcastle must have been delighted to come up against a side that was so demob-happy and two strikers in the form of Carlton Cole and Enner Valencia.