Newcastle and Liverpool delivered another pulsating game in the latest chapter of their matchup with striker Alexander Isak’s desire to switch from Newcastle to Liverpool firmly placing the Swede in the eye of the storm.
However, it was teenage forward Rio Ngumoha who stole the headlines after he stepped off the bench to curl in the winning goal 10 minutes in added on time to give Liverpool a 3-2 win over Newcastle United at St. James’ Park.
Despite battling hard with a man down for all of the second half, Newcastle’s efforts were undone by Ngumoha who turns 17 on Friday, August 29 to miss out on bagging a second draw in as many games of the season.
Newcastle United started the game very brightly and were guilty of wasting several good goal scoring opportunities as Liverpool struggled to keep up with the Magpies intensity.
With Dominik Szoboslai playing as a make shift right full back in place of the injured Jeremie Frimpong and Curtis Jones filling in for Alexis MacAllister in midfield, Liverpool were easily overrun by Newcastle.
This pressure resulted in the home team getting set pieces in dangerous areas but delivered poor attempts to threaten Liverpool while Harvey Barnes and Kieran Trippier’s crosses were easily gathered by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
After weathering the storm, Ryan Gravenberch marked his return to the Liverpool starting unit by striking a strong shot that took a deflection off Fabian Schar’s foot into the net to break the deadlock in the 35th minute.
Just before half time, Anthony Gordon’s rash tackle on Virgil Van Dijk led to a straight red card for the Newcastle winger and Liverpool capitalized on the numerical advantage almost immediately as Hugo Ekitike scored his second league goal in two league games a minute into the second half with Cody Gakpo bagging his second assist of the game.
Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes pulled a goal back in the 57th minute but not before Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate was lucky to not receive a second yellow card for pushing Harvey Barnes who was bearing down on goal.
William Osula came off the bench to slot home Newcastle’s equalizer in the 88th minute after running on to meet a long ball down the field from goalkeeper Nick Pope.
