Newcastle sink 10-man Huddersfield at St. James’ Park

Newcastle United were expected to defeat Huddersfield Town and they did just that in front of their supporters at St. James’ Park.

It was an eventful match that produced plenty of chances, multiple goals and a red card that helped sway the result in favor of Newcastle United. The Magpies bombarded Huddersfield’s goal and Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez were able to secure three crucial points with their impressive goals shortly after half-time.

First Half

The opening ten minutes in this match took everyone by surprise as Huddersfield Town dominated possession and forced Newcastle to defend in their own half. It was not until the 12 minute mark that Newcastle started to wake up. A brilliant through ball up the middle saw Miguel Almiron run clear for a one-on-one with Jonas Lossl. The former MLS star chipped the keeper, but hit the post and three seconds later Salomon Rondon’s follow up effort also cracked the post.

A few minutes later Newcastle spread the ball around like Barcelona as Ayoze Perez, Fabian Schar and Rondon took charge, but Schar’s strike from distance was saved with ease by the keeper. The 19th minute saw Huddersfield’s captain, Tommy Smith, receive a red card for a dirty foul on Almiron in the middle of the park. The last thing the Terriers needed was to play with ten men on the road.

Newcastle came close to opening the scoring in the 25th minute through Almiron, but his curling effort was saved and pushed out for a corner kick. The Magpies certainly looked more ambitious after their opponent’s red card as they took seven shots, with five of them being on target after 35 minutes of action.

Huddersfield did their best to slow the game down in the last five minutes of the half, but Newcastle still found ways to attack down the flank as Perez came close to scoring in the 42nd minute, but his shot went over the bar.

Three minutes later it was Rondon who just missed with a diving header. Longstaff did well to steal the ball on the wing and deliver a quick, curling cross, but the Venezuelan recipient failed to put his attempt on target. Overall, Newcastle played well and created some great chances to score.

Second Half

Newcastle picked up right where they left off in the first half, but this time Rondon scored on a quick turnaround shot that went through the legs of Lossl just one minute after the second half began. That goal marked Rondon’s seventh of the Premier League campaign.

Five minutes later it was Perez who scored Newcastle’s second goal. Almiron ran down the flank to deliver a long cross to DeAndre Yedlin who then headed the ball toward Rondon and he laid it off to Perez for the goal. Despite there being plenty of time left in the match, everyone in St. James’ Park had a feeling that three points were in the bag.

The Magpies kept pressing forward to get more goals against a vulnerable, ten-man Huddersfield side that looked completely lost on the pitch. The match started to slow down a bit, but the action picked up around the 65 minute mark when Newcastle almost scored their third goal. Perez selfishly took a difficult shot rather than lay it off for Almiron who had a better look at goal.

Florian Lejeune almost joined the goal scoring party with his acrobatic volley attempt in the 69th minute, but his attempt from inside the box went over the bar. One minute later it was Perez once again who failed to score after Almiron threaded a well-timed through ball into the box for the Spaniard, but Perez put the shot wide.

Newcastle almost made it three in the 72nd minute when Kenedy, who replaced Matt Ritchie, struck the bar from ten feet away. Three minutes later it was Sean Longstaff who got involved in the attack and his strike from distance shook the post. This was the fourth shot of the afternoon that bounced off the post for Newcastle.

Almiron made way for Christian Atsu in the 80th minute and it was a great moment as everyone in the stadium stood on their feet to praise the Paraguayan international for his great performance. In addition to Almiron’s performance, the entire team played well in such an important match. The Magpies now climb to 14th in the table with 28 points after this victory.