The house to myself, a fridge full of beer, a dodgy internet stream and the whole weekend off work. What more could an NUFC armchair fan in North Manchester wish for?!
I was lucky enough to be behind the goal at Elland Road in December 2001 when Nobby Solano stroked home the winner to cap a superb 4-3 victory from 3-1 down.
I also fondly remember being in the Leazes end when Dwight Gayle smashed in a beauty to seal an incredible result against Norwich, again coming from 3-1 down to win (with two of our goals coming deep into injury time).
Going even further back, 10-year-old me was disconsolately listening to commentary on local radio in 1997 as Leicester City took a 3-1 lead at St James’ Park before a certain Mr. Shearer intervened to save the weekend with his first ever hat-trick for the Toon.
To that list of magnificent 4-3 victories can now be added ‘West Ham 23/24’. Another match in which we took an early lead, collapsed to an alarming degree to find ourselves 3-1 down near the end, allowed our fans to mentally prepare for a loss, before gloriously scoring three late goals to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Cracking open a cold beer at the 12:30 kick-off felt like a bad idea at the time, by the end of the match however the drinks were flowing freely as one of the highlights of the season was being toasted by Mags from Manchester to Massachusetts and everywhere in between.
The match itself was a crazy rollercoaster of an encounter, where an early penalty dispatched by Isak failed to ease the nerves, especially as captain Lascelles picked up a bad injury soon after (one of the many we’ve had this season), leading to a complete reshuffle of our back line.
Unfortunately, our defenders looked like they’d never even met let alone played together and they soon allowed a West Ham player to stroll through and slot home a simple equaliser. The rest of the half was end-to-end with both sides feeling they could take a lead into the half-time break. At the Leazes End, Gordon planted a header just wide and Bruno was desperately unlucky to see a superb effort bounce back off the crossbar with the ‘keeper well beaten.
Just when it looked like half-time would come without further scoring, the most controversial goal of the game was allowed to stand. West Ham took a quick free-kick despite an injured Fabian Schar down on the turf holding his face, the referee permitted play to continue and West Ham to profit with a goal before being booed down the tunnel by the Toon fans who now found themselves behind at the break.
The second half would ultimately live long in the memory but started disastrously when an NUFC corner was cleared and West Ham broke away to score what seemed a killer third. At this point, you could hear the fans had been well and truly silenced and West Ham supporters were making themselves heard. with each pass being greeted by an ‘ole’ as they knocked the ball around confidently whilst both our fans and players looked shell-shocked.
Things looked to be going from bad to worse as further injuries were picked up, Almiron needing to be subbed off only eleven minutes after coming on and both Gordon and Schar clutching a hamstring in some discomfort. It was Almiron’s injury that inadvertently changed the course of the match with his replacement Harvey Barnes making more of an impact than either he or we could have dared to dream.
The Toon had already missed a couple of half-chances and seen a Barnes effort well-saved, when a scramble in the box saw Gordon take a knock whilst trying to win the ball from behind. VAR called the referee over to the monitor and his point to the spot gave us the chance to set up a grandstand finish.
IMAGO/News Images
For the second time of the afternoon, Isak stepped up and coolly sent a penalty low and hard to the ‘keeper’s right and into the bottom corner.
With the score at 3-2 and the Toon attacking at will, the scene was set for more drama and it duly came in the eighty third minute, when Isak played the perfect through ball to Barnes who placed it between the ‘keeper’s legs to bring the scores level. The scenes of euphoria at St James’ were replicated (albeit on a somewhat smaller scale) in my own living room as I was jumping up and down, cheering and shouting my head off in celebration. Thankfully my kids were out of the house and didn’t have to bear witness to this ridiculous display of ecstasy but it’s a fairly safe bet the neighbors realised that NUFC’s fortunes had changed for the better.
With there still being seven minutes plus injury time to play, a famous victory was on the cards. First, Longstaff fired an effort across goal that the onrushing Barnes couldn’t quite connect with and then Gordon ran at the West Ham defence, beating three men before firing over the bar. Newcastle United were not to be denied however and when the clock ticked down to just ten seconds of normal time remaining, something magical happened. The excellent Gordon controlled the ball on the left hand side of the area before feeding Harvey Barnes who took a touch out of his feet, allowing him the space to rifle a simply unstoppable effort past the ‘keeper to seal victory and send the entire stadium into delirium.
There was to be further drama with a red card for Gordon who received a second booking for kicking the ball away, a chance for Bruno that he couldn’t quite convert and a late opportunity for West Ham that thankfully ended up in the side netting.
By this point my voice was on the verge of being completely and utterly gone, but I still mustered the strength to cheer into the early afternoon, when the referee blew three times on his whistle to confirm a simply staggering win for the Toon.
Three goals in thirteen memorable minutes set the tone for a brilliant weekend that at one point looked dead in the water. The last minute winner of course being the absolute highlight as it ended Newcastle 4 West Ham 3.
You never know what’s around the corner with NUFC… and that’s why we love it!