Tactical anarchy reigned supreme on a night of chaotic, bewildering, thrilling drama played out amid freezing conditions.<\/p>\n
Not that the on-pitch temperature ever seemed to drop below boiling point as a renascent Leeds led three times yet departed with their seven\u2011match unbeaten run at an end and Yorkshire hearts broken by Harvey Barnes\u2019s stoppage -time winner.<\/p>\n
Long before the end, though, three things were clear: Daniel Farke\u2019s visitors are surely far too good to go down; Eddie Howe\u2019s immensely talented side have developed some alarming structural flaws; and this was one of the finest matches at St James\u2019 Park in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cA classic that is difficult to sum up,\u201d said the Newcastle manager, whose delight was tempered by the serious second\u2011half ankle injury that meant his defender Fabian Sch\u00e4r was taken to hospital. \u201cWe weren\u2019t at our best but we showed great character.\u201d<\/p>\n
It all produced so much cavalier, Keeganesque excitement that it seemed appropriate Kevin Keegan\u2019s name was chanted long and loud before kick-off as the crowd sent their former player and manager an evocative \u201cget well\u201d message following his cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n
With Newcastle starting slowly amid an emotionally charged atmosphere, an unmarked Pascal Struijk directed a free header over Nick Pope\u2019s crossbar after meeting the influential Anton Stach\u2019s free-kick.<\/p>\n
Farke briefly look concerned when his goalkeeper Lucas Perri dropped an anodyne header from Malick Thiaw and Sch\u00e4r lashed the loose ball home only to see that effort disallowed for a perceived foul on Perri.<\/p>\n
Leeds\u2019s Brenden Aaronson scores the opening goal after some haphazard Newcastle defending. Photograph: Alex Dodd\/CameraSport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Suitably stung, Newcastle rallied and the impressive Lewis Miley headed a Bruno Guimar\u00e3es corner over the crossbar but it proved insufficient to erode visiting confidence. Sure enough Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Brenden Aaronson combined to befuddle Howe\u2019s dozing defence. As Thiaw slipped, Aaronson met his centre-forward\u2019s clever pass and unleashed a superlative low shot beyond Nick Pope\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n
Newcastle equalised four minutes later. Thanks to Miley\u2019s cross, Guimar\u00e3es\u2019s header, Anthony Gordon\u2019s clever penalty area flick, Nick Woltemade\u2019s subtle touch and an assured left-foot finish from the dangerous Barnes, parity was restored. But only temporarily. Leeds\u2019s second goal came from the penalty spot following Thiaw\u2019s handball. If, given that the German was toppling over at the time, the award of that spot-kick was contentious, it capped an unusually disappointing 45 minutes for the defender.<\/p>\n
Thiaw had struggled to subdue Calvert-Lewin and could not quite seem to fathom out Aaronson\u2019s highly intelligent positional play as the No 10.<\/p>\n
Dominic Calvert-Lewin puts away a Leeds penalty late in added time in the first half. Photograph: Alex Dodd\/CameraSport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Despite Gordon\u2019s deliberate attempt to create a divot by scuffing up the turf around the penalty spot \u2013 an endeavour that led to his yellow card \u2013 Calvert-Lewin sent Pope the wrong way. It was his ninth goal of the season and eighth in the past nine games. A place in England\u2019s World Cup squad surely beckons.<\/p>\n
Howe replaced Sven Botman with Thiaw at half-time. With Tonali, rather more controversially, also withdrawn, Tino Livramento came on at right\u2011back and Miley moved into midfield.<\/p>\n
Those changes looked vindicated as Joelinton swiftly headed Newcastle level. It was a top-drawer finish conjured when Miley performed minor wonders to keep the ball in play and Guimar\u00e3es used the outside of his right foot to whip in a superb cross.<\/p>\n
The glorious craziness only intensified when Pope misread a cross and James Justin\u2019s apparently goalbound header somehow ricocheted off the underside of the crossbar.<\/p>\n
Joelinton drags the scoreline back to 2-2 with an acrobatic header. Photograph: Stu Forster\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
As Sch\u00e4r crumpled in a challenge with Calvert-Lewin the mood darkened. Following several minutes of treatment he was carried off on a stretcher en route to hospital.<\/p>\n
Leeds promptly capitalised on Yoane Wissa\u2019s slapdash pass and broke with alacrity, leaving Aaronson to expertly score his second goal.<\/p>\n
Then Aaronson was contentiously deemed to have handled Lewis Hall\u2019s cross inside the area and Guimar\u00e3es made no mistake from the penalty spot. \u201cIt was never a penalty but the referee was under great pressure from the crowd,\u201d Farke said.<\/p>\n
The scene was then set for Barnes\u2019s final, victorious 102nd-minute act. \u201cIt was such a heartbreaking moment,\u201d the Leeds manager said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a top game, a great game but, of course, there were mistakes. It became more like basketball. Both teams were out of control and just went for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tactical anarchy reigned supreme on a night of chaotic, bewildering, thrilling drama played out amid freezing conditions. Not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-681044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115856616027350984","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}