Home form ends with Magpies loss - on-the-whistle report

We suffered our first defeat in 11 home matches as Newcastle United edged a tight game 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Two goals in nine first-half minutes put the visitors in control at the break, Callum Wilson opening the scoring in controversial circumstances on 31 minutes before Miguel Almiron doubled the Magpies' lead. Harry Kane scored his 10th Premier League goal of the season shortly after the break, but we couldn’t find an equaliser and ended our run of 10 straight home wins in N17.

It was an open game right from the first whistle, Heung-Min Son having three efforts at goal inside the opening 11 minutes and he probably should have scored with the third, only for Nick Pope to block his deft close-range effort. Rodrigo Bentancur and Eric Dier saw shots blocked in quick succession and Harry Kane twisted and turned Fabian Schar before firing a low shot which Pope just stopped with an outstretched leg before Newcastle broke the deadlock.

Schar’s ball over the top found Wilson, Hugo Lloris came out of his area and got the ball first, Wilson ran into him and knocked Lloris over before turning on the ball and lobbing it into an empty net. It looked a foul on the goalkeeper, but VAR checked it and agreed with the on-field decision, so the goal stood. Nine minutes later it was 2-0, Almiron skipping past Clement Lenglet inside the area and sliding the ball under Lloris from a tight angle.

Those goals drained our confidence and it was a sloppy end to the first period, while we almost fell further behind eight minutes into the second but Lloris made an excellent save low down to keep out Schar’s volley from former Spur Kieran Trippier’s deep corner. Instead, a minute later it was 2-1 following a corner at the other end, Lenglet flicking on for Kane to stoop and head home at the back post.

The goal lifted our spirits again and we were back in the game. It remained wide open though, both sides having plenty of attacking opportunities but neither was able to find a telling cutting edge and, for all our late possession in the final third, that elusive chance just never arose.

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Match data

Goals: Spurs – Kane 54; Newcastle – Wilson 31, Almiron 40.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Bentancur, Sessegnon, Skipp, Royal; Newcastle – Wilson, Pope.

Referee: Jarred Gillett.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Cloudy skies, thundery showers, gentle breeze, 17 degrees.

Attendance: 61,726.