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Dwight Gayle
Dwight Gayle pounces on a mistake by Danny Ward to score Newcastle’s final goal in their 3-1 win over Huddersfield. Photograph: Richard Lee/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock
Dwight Gayle pounces on a mistake by Danny Ward to score Newcastle’s final goal in their 3-1 win over Huddersfield. Photograph: Richard Lee/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Newcastle pull clear of Brighton as Dwight Gayle seals win at Huddersfield

This article is more than 7 years old

Newcastle United were always expected to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking and after 35 games of this long season they can begin to truly believe. A second successive away win against a promotion rival leaves Rafael Benítez’s side 11 points clear of third-placed Huddersfield, who provided a stern test and may feel aggrieved at the key decisions during this hard-fought contest.

Newcastle are now five points clear at the top of the Championship following Brighton’s earlier defeat at Nottingham Forest, a result that means Huddersfield still hold hope of automatic promotion despite this loss. Matt Ritchie’s penalty gave Newcastle an early lead before a controversial Daryl Murphy strike and a late Dwight Gayle goal secured this crucial victory.

Doubt surrounded two of Newcastle’s goals, though, and the scoreline was perhaps unjust on Huddersfield, who had 76% possession and scored through Aaron Mooy’s penalty but were undone by superb counterattacking tactics.

Contact was not completely clear for Newcastle’s early penalty – which Ritchie won and converted – while Jonjo Shelvey looked to have handled the ball in the buildup. David Wagner’s side then felt that Murphy fouled their goalkeeper, Danny Ward, before scoring Newcastle’s second. Mooy provided hope before Gayle capitalised on some gung-ho Huddersfield attacking in injury time to score his 21st league goal of the campaign.

Benítez, who did not see either penalty incident, said: “We knew that it was a very difficult week against two very good teams. Brighton is a great team, it was a great win and today against a team in form who did really well. We needed to defend and work hard.

“It’s true that sometimes the way you play doesn’t matter, it’s the character that you put on the pitch, the work rate and discipline. In these kind of games when you know the other team is comfortable in possession the other things are more important and the players coped really well with the pressure.”

Perhaps Huddersfield were missing the enigmatic presence of their manager on the touchline. Town struggled to get a grip of the game in the first half, with Wagner serving a ban and sitting in the stands after his altercation with the Leeds manager, Garry Monk, last month.

Newcastle were ahead in the 10th minute through Ritchie’s penalty, the midfielder sending Ward the wrong way after he had been brought down in the area by Nahki Wells, although there was minimal contact and suggestions of handball.

The anger emanating from the home supporters increased in the 32nd minute when Murphy was played in over the top. The forward’s first touch was wayward and the ball rolled through to Ward, but when Murphy then challenged the Town goalkeeper he spilled possession and the striker rolled in from a difficult angle. His effort trickled in as a crescendo of boos rang out in direction of the referee, Roger East.

Gayle – the Championship’s second-highest scorer this season behind Leeds’s Chris Wood – was brought on for his first game since 20 February but soon Huddersfield had a lifeline. Elias Kachunga went down in the box and Mooy demonstrated composure to fire into the bottom corner for the game’s second penalty.

There was to be no late comeback, though, as Gayle marked his return from injury with a goal in injury time. With the substitute goalkeeper Joel Coleman up for a corner and misjudging a bouncing ball when chasing back, Gayle capitalised to race free and tap into an empty net.

Wagner said: “I believe the first goal isn’t a penalty, maybe there is handball before as well, and in the second goal if Danny Ward controls the ball he isn’t allowed to get attacked. He got attacked and unfortunately got a knock. Newcastle are very difficult to break down when they are so compact and stable.”

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