Eddie Howe praised saviour Harvey Barnes after he came off the bench to drag Newcastle from the jaws of defeat to a remarkable Premier League victory over West Ham.
The Magpies were trailing 3-1 at St James’ Park when £38million summer signing Barnes was introduced as a 67th-minute replacement for injured substitute Miguel Almiron and 23 madcap minutes later, he scored the second of two goals to secure a stunning 4-3 win.
Head coach Howe said: “Harvey deserves that. The thing with Harvey is that he’s a goalscorer. He does score goals. You look at his statistics and his record, and it’s incredible really for a wide player.
That winning feeling! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/X95DSSicgD
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) March 30, 2024
“You just look at the amount of goals he got last season for Leicester. We felt, signing him, that he could get similar numbers for us. He’s just been struck by injuries, and he’s had a difficult start to his Newcastle career.
“But the quality is undoubtedly there and I thought the two finishes today were typical Harvey. It wasn’t easy to score the first one – although it was a one-on-one, he had a really small part of the goal to aim at and took it brilliantly.
“Then the second one, I hope it will live on for a long time because at 3-3, the ball drops to him on his right foot, but he still has so much to do. It’s a great goal.”
Alexander Isak had fired the Magpies into a sixth-minute lead from the penalty spot, by Michail Antonio’s equaliser and a second from the impressive Mohammed Kudus had the visitors 2-1 ahead at the break.
Love it, boss! 👊 pic.twitter.com/5QsNH6qrBM
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) March 30, 2024
Jarrod Bowen’s strike three minutes after the restart looked to have won the game, but Isak repeated the dose from the spot with 13 minutes remaining after substitute Kalvin Phillips had tripped Anthony Gordon – who was later sent off for a second bookable offence – to set up a chaotic finish.
Barnes levelled with seven minutes remaining, but saved the best for last when he smashed an unstoppable 90th-minute drive past substitute keeper Lukasz Fabianski to complete the comeback.
Howe said: “It was a brilliant advert for the Premier League, I think, a really good advert for the league in terms of the drama, the changes in the game and the flows in momentum.”
The only down side for Howe was the addition of skipper Jamaal Lascelles, Tino Livramento and Almiron to to an already extensive injury list, while Gordon will be suspended for Tuesday’s clash with former club Everton.
He was at least able to reflect on a spirited fightback and he headed home, in stark contrast to opposite number David Moyes, who had thrown England international Phillips into the mix in an attempt to stem the flow.
Moyes said: “I thought an extra midfield player would give us a bit more control in the middle of the pitch at that time. But obviously it didn’t work.
“At the time, I felt that they were slightly the better team. We were 2-1, we got 3-1 but from that point onwards, we needed to defend well and be stronger and be harder to play against.
“But hey, we scored three, they scored four, we lose the game. We did a lot of good things, certainly going forward. Our attacking play as very good.”
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