Newcastle United claimed a 4-3 win over Nottingham Forest at St James' Park to move up to fifth in the Premier League table.
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00:00Newcastle United 4 Nottingham Forest 3 here at St James' Park this afternoon.
00:05A bit of a strange game that one, a game of two halves shall we say. An entertaining first half
00:11from Newcastle United's perspective but a very nervy second half and it didn't need to be that
00:15way. Newcastle in total control from that first half, okay they fell behind in the game through
00:20Callum Hudson to Doddie's strike but fought back emphatically scoring four second half,
00:25four first half goals in 11 minutes. Jacob Murphy on the score sheet, it was Lewis Miley
00:31who equalised before Jacob Murphy scored and then Alexander Izak gets a brace,
00:34first goal from the penalty spot and then a second goal after being played in by Joe Willock and
00:38yeah at half time you're thinking this game can be anything it wants to be in terms of scoring.
00:42Newcastle can win this by any margin they want to, they were that dominant but
00:46for some reason the second half they just sat back, invited lots of pressure from Nottingham
00:50Forest and yeah Nottingham Forest made a 4-2 on the hour mark through Milinkovic
00:55and they fully deserved that. Newcastle you'd think would have woken up a little bit but they
01:00didn't and Nottingham Forest's pressure continued to the point where they end up scoring and making
01:05a 4-3 with three minutes left, three minutes stoppage time left. Thankfully there wasn't
01:11any more because as I say the game is only heading one direction, I think if that game
01:14had been played another 10-15 minutes Nottingham Forest might have walked away with a point here
01:20which would have been terrible from Newcastle's perspective because as I say they were in total
01:25control in that first half, the two performances in Newcastle in the first half, so dynamic,
01:31aggressive, quick, getting bodies forward but in the second half it was a total contrast and
01:37that'll be the big frustration for Eddie Howe tonight, I admit that in his post-match press
01:42comments there that he's thinking about that second half but wants to focus on the positive
01:47as well because look at it, it's a big result for Newcastle, I think the second half is there
01:53to be reviewed ahead of the Liverpool game and then Brighton next week so I don't think that'll
02:00skirt over that but in terms of the result it was a very very good result here for Newcastle,
02:04it was a must win in my opinion because if they had have lost here today or even drew
02:08and they wouldn't have closed that gap on Nottingham Forest, could have gone to nine points,
02:12Nottingham Forest in third, could have gone to nine points if Nottingham Forest had won
02:15and stays at six points of Newcastle's draw so they managed to get that gap to third place
02:20to three points, Newcastle now sitting fifth in the Premier League table so they put themselves
02:25in that Champions League qualification mix, I do fear if they hadn't have won here today then
02:31the hopes of qualifying for the Champions League or finishing inside that top four might have
02:35slipped away here but yeah they got a massive result and yeah, deserved it based on the
02:42first half performance but second half, yeah it was a hard watch from a Newcastle United
02:49perspective, I think if you're a neutral watching at home or even a neutral here today you've seen
02:55a great game but yeah from a Newcastle fan point of view it was really nervy and it shouldn't have
03:00been that way. There was an inconsistent display from Newcastle but there was one Newcastle player
03:05that was the most consistent for me and the best player on both halves and that was Lewis Hall,
03:10he's had a iffy few weeks I would say based on the standards he'd set at the start of the season,
03:16Premier League's most informed left back or was the best left back in the Premier League arguably
03:22and during that early part of the season up until maybe the New Year but yeah I think he's had an
03:27iffy few weeks but today he was back to his best and had a hand in all three opening goals,
03:33the first one when his cross was controlled by Lewis Miley and then put into the bottom corner,
03:39the second one as well when he's linked up superbly with Alexander Isaac, it was a lovely
03:43flicked back from Alexander Isaac to allow Lewis Hall to sprint forward and then it was his
03:47deflected cross that was bundled home by Jacob Murphy and then of course it was Lewis Hall's
03:52cross and another Lewis Hall cross that was handled by a Nottingham Borus player
03:55and referee pointing the spot after looking at the monitor and Alexander Isaac makes a 3-1
04:02from the spot so a dazzling attacking performance but also on the second half when Newcastle needed
04:08to dig deep in and ride the pressure, Lewis Hall was integral down that left-hand side,
04:15excellent going forward and yeah stuck to his defensive task as well so he was my man of the
04:20match today, a couple of other performers, Lewis Miley who yeah this was his first Premier League
04:26start in 12 months, I thought he had a really really good first half, a well-taken goal,
04:33another one that midfield as well, Joe Willock who, that was a big, it felt like the Joe Willock
04:39of old, the 20-22-23 Joe Willock, surge in runs, set up Alexander Isaac's second goal which made it
04:484-1 so we've seen a lot, we've seen that Joe Willock that we'd seen so often a couple of years
04:55ago so it was really promising first half from him but I meant them two players I mentioned
04:59sort of faded in the second half but that went along with the team performance as well,
05:05as I say Newcastle in that second half it wasn't a great watch but they managed to get through with
05:11three points and yeah I told that's a big one in terms of Newcastle's season because
05:16they've got a big few weeks coming up before that Carabao Cup final, that shouldn't be on
05:20their minds, Callum Wilson's pretty much program notes and Eddie Howe was quite strong on that
05:25message as well saying that the Carabao Cup has to wait because Newcastle have got some big games
05:30before that as well, starting with Liverpool on Wednesday night which yeah going to Anfield is
05:36never a happy hunting ground for Newcastle, it's the toughest place to go at this moment in time,
05:43they're the runaway Premier League champions so there's a lot of momentum with them so Newcastle
05:47are going to be after, at their best, have to be at their best and more and hopefully Liverpool
05:52maybe have an off day as well to get a result there but yeah I suppose the games in recent
05:58years have been a lot more tight but yeah hopefully Newcastle can end their Anfield,
06:02if they do because if they get a result there that is truly massive and then you get right in
06:07here changing the spot in the FA Cup fifth round next week and if you get yourself in a run of
06:12winning games then the momentum in that Carabao Cup final is immense so hopefully today is a
06:17building block for Newcastle, look it wasn't pretty especially that second half but they
06:22got a result, they got the win and that's all that matters.