Newcastle United scored four goals in 11 first-half minutes to keep alive their Champions League qualification hopes with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Nottingham Forest at St James’ Park on Sunday but had to hold on under heavy pressure in the second period.
Newcastle move into fifth place with 44 points from 26 games, outside the top four on goal difference only. High-flying Forest lost for the second week in a row but remain in third with 47 points from the same number of matches.
Forest led early through Callum Hudson-Odoi’s long-range strike but Newcastle roared into life with four quick goals from 18-year-old Lewis Miley, Jacob Murphy and a brace from Alexander Isak, the first a penalty, which gave them a 4-1 half-time lead.
Forest were the better side in the second period and created numerous chances against a nervous home team, as Nikola Milenkovic netted and a late goal by Ryan Yates almost earned the visitors what would have been a deserved point.
“It was a brilliant first half, the reaction after conceding was really good,” Isak told Sky Sports. “We dropped a bit second half and conceded sloppy goals. I’m obviously happy to win the game.
“The most important thing was to win. We want to win more comfortably but it was a big win.”
It was the proverbial game of two halves, with Newcastle utterly dominant in the first but then meek in the second.
Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
The home side had five shots on target in the first half and none in the second in a performance that will give manager Eddie Howe plenty of food for thought despite the three points.
“We made mistakes, Newcastle made mistakes also. But it was two totally different halves. We started well, we scored, and they just rolled over us,” Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said.
“There was nothing else in the first half about us. Every time Newcastle had the ball they scored. In the second half we were much better.”
Forest led inside six minutes when Hudson-Odoi drilled a low shot from 30 metres into the bottom left corner, before Newcastle seized control with a goal blitz that started midway through the first half.
Miley was picked out in acres of space in the penalty box and fired low into the net, before the home side went ahead when Murphy bundled in the ball at the back post off his thigh.
Newcastle received a penalty when Lewis Hall’s cross from the left struck the arm of jumping Forest defender Ola Aina, which was deemed to be in an unnatural position.
Isak went down the middle with his spot kick and while Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels got a strong hand to it, he could not keep out the ball.
The home side added a fourth with Isak scoring his 50th Premier League goal in his 76th appearance. He timed his run into the box to perfection and his shot deflected into the net off the boot of a defender.
Newcastle almost scored a fifth early in the second half when Fabian Schaer’s header from a corner came back off the post.
But the hosts inexplicably fell off the pace after that and Forest created chance after chance until Milenkovic flicked the ball into the net from close range.
Yates fired in a third for the visitors as the clock struck 90 minutes but they could not force an equaliser in injury time.
>
