NEWCASTLE had goalkeeper Martin Dubravka to thank as they climbed to tenth spot in the Premier League following a tense 0-0 draw with Norwich at St. James’s Park.
Despite being bottom of the table, the visitors came out all guns blazing, playing much of the opening 45 minutes in the Magpies’ half and forcing Dubravka into a pair of fine saves to keep the scoreline level.
Dubravka was in fine form to deny the CanariesCredit: Reuters
Danny Rose made his Magpies debut from the benchCredit: Reuters
Norwich created plenty of chances and won a slew of corners, but all too often they struggled to get many of them on target. When they did, they found Dubravka in stellar form.
Finnish forward Teemu Pukki, Norwich’s top scorer in the league this season with 11 goals, had a great chance to put his side ahead in the 73rd minute, but again the Newcastle stopper was quickest to react -with Ciaran Clark then able to clear the danger.
With Norwich pouring forward, new loan signing Danny Rose came on as a substitute to make his Newcastle debut.
And his new side had to work hard to repel yet another Norwich corner deep into stoppage time.
The final whistle prompted boos from the home supporters but favourable results in the day’s other games saw Newcastle rise to tenth place, while Norwich remain bottom of the league on just 18 points.
Canaries manager Daniel Farke couldn’t hide his disappointment with the result.
“We were dangerous, they did everything we asked for. We want them to be more brutal with their finishing, but these things happen sometimes. I’m happy with the performance, not the result,” he said.
Teemu Pukki could have won it for lowly NorwichCredit: Reuters
“We’re not playing to avoid losing, we’re playing to win. It has been four top-class performances in a row.”
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce was almost as disappointed as his side’s supporters, despite their good position in the league.
“We set ourselves up to be difficult to beat. If you look at the record we’ve got, we’ve done fantastically well. Now we have to get a little bit of quality in forward areas.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
