Late spot-kick drama against Newcastle - match report and debrief

A 97th-minute penalty awarded by the Video Assistant Referee earned Newcastle United an unlikely draw at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Callum Wilson stepped up to score the spot-kick with the Magpies’ only shot on target after we had dominated the entire game and led thanks to Lucas Moura’s 25th-minute opener.

We had a host of chances to add to our tally but found Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow in fine form.

We looked to have seen out the game comfortably until a stoppage-time free-kick was clipped into our penalty area, Andy Carroll won a header and the ball struck the back of the arm of Eric Dier, who also had his back to the ball as he jumped with Carroll. VAR examined the incident, referee Peter Bankes went over to check the pitchside monitor and duly awarded a penalty for handball to the dismay of our players and coaching staff.

Up to that point, Newcastle had not managed a single shot on target but Wilson fired past Hugo Lloris to level the scores and the final whistle blew shortly after.

Darlow’s display denies us victory

For all the controversy surrounding the last-gasp penalty, it was the performance of Magpies’ goalkeeper Darlow that ultimately prevented us from taking all three points. Newcastle goalkeepers have been Man of the Match in three of the last seven games against us in N17 and Darlow’s display had him in the running to receive that honour once again after making a string of fine saves, particularly in the first half.

With just three minutes on the clock, he made a superb double save, leaping across his goal to keep out Giovani Lo Celso’s 25-yard free-kick before somehow denying Harry Kane from close range on the rebound. Six minutes later he stuck out a hand to keep out Kane’s header from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s cross but could do nothing about our opening goal in the 25th minute. Hojbjerg broke the lines with a neat pass in to Heung-Min Son who immediately turned and found Kane. He bamboozled Isaac Hayden to work a yard of space on the left of the area and hit a low centre across the six-yard box to the far post where Lucas poked out a foot to divert the ball over the line.

And we continued to dominate, with Darlow and the woodwork continuing to deny us. He produced a full-length save to tip Kane’s effort around the post, Son hit the upright with a 22-yard left-foot curler, Dier headed wide when unmarked from a corner and then Son hit the woodwork again three minutes before the break with a whipped effort that cracked against the crossbar.

After a much more even second half, substitute Erik Lamela brought a good save out of Darlow from a free-kick on the edge of the right side of the area six minutes from time. Newcastle came close to scoring in the 89th minute when Ben Davies’ attempted clearance inside our area smacked off Hojbjerg and flew just wide of our goal without a Newcastle player anywhere in the vicinity! But then came the penalty incident...

Rare N17 draw for Magpies

It didn’t seem a likely outcome until the final seconds, but this was the first draw in this fixture for 23 Premier League matches. Of the previous 22 in N17, we had won 13 with the Magpies victorious in the other nine. That result meant it was the first time Jose Mourinho hadn’t beaten Newcastle United in a home league match, having won all eight of his previous home games against the Magpies.

The Head Coach made seven changes to the team that started against KF Shkendija on Thursday night. Lloris, Matt Doherty, Dier, Hojbjerg, Lo Celso, Lucas and Kane came back in for Joe Hart, Serge Aurier, Toby Alderweireld, Tanguy Ndombele, Lamela, Dele and Steven Bergwijn. Sergio Reguilon took his place on the bench for the first time. We also had to make a late change to our bench as Moussa Sissoko, who was initially named as a substitute, had to drop out through illness with Gedson Fernandes taking his place.

Reaction on Spurs TV

Performance pleases Jose

Jose Mourinho felt we were "always in control" of the game. Speaking to Spurs TV afterwards, the Head Coach said: "The performance was very good, so the performance was not heartbreaking - the performance was really good, a consequence of the evolution of the team, very solid defensively, not giving chances to the opponent, always in control, huge ball possession, lots of chances. Man of the Match has to be their goalkeeper... (I'm) very, very happy with my team’s performance."

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Lucas 25; Newcastle – Wilson 90+7 (pen).

Yellow cards: Spurs – Winks; Newcastle – Shelvey, Joelinton, Lewis, Hayden.

Referee: Peter Bankes.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Light cloud, moderate breeze, 15 degrees.