Newcastle United 4-3 West Ham United
Premier League, St James’ Park, Saturday 30 March 2024, 12.30pm GMT

West Ham United relinquished a two-goal lead with 13 minutes to play to fall to a disappointing, damaging 3-4 Premier League defeat at Newcastle United.

Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen – with his 15th Premier League goal of the season – looked to have put the Hammers on course for a valuable victory, only for a late collapse to put a big dent in the Londoners’ hopes of securing European qualification.

Alexander Isak, with two penalties either side of West Ham’s treble, and then substitute Harvey Barnes, stunned David Moyes and his side, who were simply unable to handle the Magpies’ late surge.

West Ham had headed to one of world football’s cathedrals, St James’ Park – named after one of Jesus’s 12 disciples – for their Holy Saturday fixture seeking to extend their unbeaten run to five Premier League matches, but those hopes were ended in stunning fashion.

Newcastle’s historic home had not been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Hammers, who had won there just five times in 25 previous Premier League visits, and eleven in 71 in total dating back 113 years – and that trend continued as West Ham surrendered what should have been a winning position.

It took just 130 seconds for Vladimír Coufal to foul Anthony Gordon inside the West Ham penalty area. After a three-minute VAR check for a potential offside deemed a challenge by Dinos Mavropanos started a new phase of play and therefore Gordon was not offside, referee Rob Jones confirmed his decision and Alexander Isak sent Alphonse Areola the wrong way from the spot.

Isak and Antonio then each flashed a shot over the crossbar before West Ham’s No9 equalised, climaxing a superb build-up by running onto Paquetá’s through ball and finishing confidently past Martin Dúbravka.

That goal reduced noise levels within St James’ Park, but they rose again nine minutes before half-time when Gordon headed narrowly wide, then moments later when his shot was deflected wide by Coufal. Either side, shots from Jarrod Bowen, Sean Longstaff were held by Dúbravka and Areola respectively as the teams continued to trade chances.

An injury to Jamaal Lascelles and a succession of stoppages meant ten minutes were added to the first half, and they were ten minutes full of incident. First Bruno Guimarães curled against the crossbar, then his fellow Brazilian Paquetá headed narrowly over, before Kudus fired Bowen’s cutback from Paquetá’s quickly-taken free-kick high past Dúbravka with his right foot.

Injury also saw Łukasz Fabiański replace Areola for the third time this year, and the Pole had a goal to celebrate within three minutes of his arrival as Kudus rode two challenges before playing in Bowen, who showed his England quality by firing low across Dúbravka and into the bottom corner and put his side two goals clear.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe sent on three substitutes before the hour-mark but one of them, Miguel Almirón, lasted just eleven minutes before being forced off, only adding to the growing to sense of frustration in the Gallowgate End.

Just as that frustration threatened to boil over, West Ham failed to clear danger from their box and conceded a second penalty when substitute Kalvin Phillips felled Gordon with 13 minutes of normal time remaining. This time referee Jones initially did not give the decision, only to overule himself after a trip to the pitchside screen. Isak duly stepped up and sent his second goalkeeper of the afternoon the wrong way to score.

That proved a huge turning point as Barnes – only on the pitch because of Almirón’s injury – first raced clear before nutmegging Fabiański to score on 83 minutes, then sidestepped Phillips and fired unerringly inside the far post on 90 to send the home supporters wild with delight – delight that was only momentarily dimmed when Gordon was sent-off for a second bookable offence when he kicked the ball away.

At the other end, as Souček put one final chance into the side netting, high in the Leazes Stand, the Claret and Blue Army could only shake their heads at how their team had lost a game they should have won.

Newcastle United: Dúbravka, Livramento (Almirón 56 (Barnes 67)), Lascelles © (Krafth 17 (Hall 57)), Schär, Burn, Longstaff, Guimarães, Willock (Anderson 57), Murphy, Gordon, Isak
Subs not used: Karius (GK), Dummett, Ritchie, White

Goals: Isak 6 (pen), 77 (pen), Barnes 83, 90

Booked: Gordon, Barnes, Howe, Isak

Sent-off: Gordon

West Ham United: Areola (Fabiański 46), Coufal (Ings 90+3), Mavropanos, Zouma ©, Emerson, Ward-Prowse (Johnson 83), Souček, Paquetá, Kudus, Bowen, Antonio (Phillips 69)
Subs not used: Cresswell, Ogbonna, Earthy, Cornet, Mubama

Goals: Antonio 21, Kudus 45+10, Bowen 48

Booked: Souček, Moyes

Referee: Rob Jones

Attendance: 52,199