Terry Connor made the best possible start to life as Wolves boss after watching his team come from two goals behind at Newcastle to give their survival hopes a timely boost.
The former assistant manager must have been fearing the worst after Papiss Cisse put the home side in front with just six minutes on the clock, with Jonas Gutierrez doubling the lead just after the quarter hour rifling the ball past Wayne Hennessey from distance. The Magpies then took their foot off the gas and presented Wanderers with a route back into the game that they grasped firmly with both hands. Matt Jarvis halved the deficit five minutes after the break before Kevin Doyle pounced to hook home to earn a well deserved draw that lifted them out of the relegation zone. It was a marked improvement on the 5-1 drubbing suffered at the hands of rivals West Brom a fortnight ago and gave supporters hope that they will be playing Premier League football next season.
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Newcastle also conceded five in their last game against Tottenham and were straight out of the traps as they looked to put that defeat behind them. It didn’t take the Magpies long to open the scoring with Wolves the architects of their own downfall. Christophe Berra gifted possession to Yohan Cabaye on the edge of his own penalty area and he teed up leading scorer Demba Ba for a back heeled effort that was deflected into the path of Cheick Tiote, whose scuffed shot found Cisse to side foot home his second goal since moving from Freibug last month. The visitors found themselves two down after 18 minutes after Gutierrez took control of Kevin Doyle’s weak defensive header and hammered an unstoppable strike into the net from 30 yards. Danny Simpson then went close with a with a rasping effort that brought the best out of Welsh international Hennessey.
Wolves soon took control going into the break and made their supremacy count within five minutes of the restart as winger Jarvis curled the ball past Tim Krul from the edge of the penalty area with the aid of a deflection off Danny Simpson. Alan Pardew responded, throwing Hatem Ben Arfa and Danny Guthrie on in place of Cisse and Ryan Taylor but it had little effect as Doyle equalised in the 66th minute to cap a superb comeback. Mike Williamson’s failure to deal with a high ball into the box was punished and the the Republic of Ireland striker found the net from close range to cap a superb comeback at St James’ Park. Newcastle offered little in terms of a response although Ben Arfa almost snatched victory with a couple of potshots from range, but the Magpies will consider this two points dropped in their race for a Europa League place.
Here are the highlights…
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