Goals and gratitude as Woltemade feels the backing of Newcastle fans

GRATITUDE: Woltemade grateful for the backing and messages he received from fans. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

Premier League: Newcastle 2 (Woltemade 4, 20) Chelsea 2 (James 49, Pedro 66)

IT would appear that Reece James' set-piece sorcery is outdone only by his nifty line in euphemisms.

"We had to review and change a few things," was the Chelsea skipper's description of a scene not for the faint-hearted in the away dressing room as Enzo Maresca, despite claiming to the contrary, surely delivered the mother of all half-time b**lockings.

It wasn't so much the hairdryer treatment, more a flame-thrower. They'll be repainting the walls in there for days. James, who launched the comeback with a sublime free-kick early in the second-half, added: "The message was more demanding, wanting more effort."

There couldn't have been much less effort in an abject first-half where the visitors should have been dead and buried. No doubt the Chelsea boss will be asking himself and his players a few searching questions as to why his side were so woeful for 45 minutes as they dodged a bullet, big style.

When you see the number of their players trotting out to play wearing gloves on a mild December Saturday, perhaps that tells you all you need to know about the willingness of some of them to put in the hard yards and scrap for every ball.

James added: "It's a difficult place to come and the atmosphere can get the better of a lot of teams but we started the second-half well and the game turned quickly.

"To execute a free-kick like that when we needed it was a great feeling and that one goal changed the game because the whole atmosphere quietened down. It was clearly a game of two halves and we knew if we got one the second one was there for sure."

That second duly arrived as Joao Pedro, who Newcastle spent much of last summer attempting to sign, out-muscled Malick Thiaw to a Robert Sanchez clearance to sprint through and slot home his first goal in six games.

Intriguingly, it was a move the Brazilian forward insisted he has worked on in training with the Chelsea keeper. It certainly paid dividends on this occasion although it was helped in large part by the usually sure-footed Newcastle defender Thiaw slipping at an inopportune moment as the two players went up for an aerial challenge.

James, who added a goal-saving late challenge to thwart substitute Harvey Barnes to a decent afternoon's work on Tyneside, added: "Last season we came here and lost so to fight back from two goals down to get a point, we're happy to get a draw."

Such a scenario looked wildly optimistic as Nick Woltemade fired Newcastle into a two-goal lead inside the opening 20 minutes. It was a breath-taking start from the hosts who harried the life out of their opponents to help the German take his first steps on the road to redemption after his calamitous own goal in last week's Wear-Tyne horror show from Eddie Howe's side.

Woltemade gratefully fired home the rebound after Sanchez saved from Anthony Gordon, before deftly guiding home a cross from the rejuvenated England winger. It wasn't to be the perfect day out for the big targetman, who spurned a glorious chance to bag a first-half hat-trick when volleying over from another inviting Gordon cross in arguably the contest's pivotal moment.

A third at that stage would have closed the door on any potential comeback. It was something acknowledged by the Newcastle forward, whose miss might not have proved so costly had the hosts not been denied a clear penalty when Trevoh Chalobah's rather too enthusiastic second-half bodycheck on Gordon in the area unfathomably went unpunished by either referee Andy Madley or VAR.

"It's mixed emotions because I could have scored a third," Woltemade admitted after taking his Newcastle goal tally to nine for the season.

He added: "I wanted to give something back to the fans to say 'thank you' to everyone who texted me. I got maybe 95% good messages and that's not normal when you score an own goal to lose a derby.

"The whole crowd was singing my name and after what happened on Sunday that is not normal so I'm really happy to play in a club like this because I know the fans are behind me and I can take confidence from that."

Maresca admitted he's not averse to a liberal dose of the hairdryer if his side are under-performing, but insisted he didn't turn to it on Saturday. “No, no, no," the Italian said. "Many times it happened, I promise you, but not today." 

As previously stated, then, if it wasn't a hairdryer, it must have been a flame-thrower.

Whatever it was, it certainly had the desired effect. There's a reason why a game of two halves remains an enduring cliche in football parlance, because this was the latest contest to prove that it's an adage which continues to be a succinct description of so many matches. One which no doubt left a frustrated Howe as sick as a parrot.

Newcastle (4-3-3): Ramsdale 6; Miley 7, Thiaw 5, Schar 6, Hall 7; Guimaraes 6, Tonali 6, Ramsey 5 (Willock 72, 5); J Murphy 7 (Barnes 72, 5), Woltemade 8 (Wissa 72, 6), Gordon 8 (Elanga 72, 5). Booked: Schar, Wissa, Hall.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez 6; Gusto 2 (Fernandez 54, 7), Fofana 5, Chalobah 5, Cucurella 6; James 9, Caicedo 8; Neto 7, Palmer 5 (Santos 80, 6), Garnaco 6; Pedro 7..Booked: Sanchez, Garnacho, Gusto, Caicedo, Santos, Pedro.

Referee: Andy Madley