Chris Wood blasted home a 72nd-minute penalty to hand Newcastle a precious victory over Wolves which lifted them closer to Premier League safety.
The £25million January signing’s second goal in a black and white shirt secured a 1-0 win which left the Magpies 10 points clear of the relegation zone and piled the pressure on the teams below them.
Wood, who became New Zealand’s record scorer during last month’s international break, had seen a first-half strike ruled out by VAR, but his decisive intervention ended his side’s three-game losing streak, to the delight of the majority of a crowd of 52,164 at St James’ Park.
It was little more than Eddie Howe’s side – prompted throughout by the excellent Bruno Guimaraes – deserved on a night when Wolves rarely looked like claiming the three points they needed to climb into the top six, until a late flurry.
Newcastle 1-0 Wolves
— Sporting Life Football & Infogol (@InfogolApp) April 8, 2022
‣ xG: 1.56-0.28
It took a penalty to separate the sides at St James' Park but Eddie Howe's Magpies were worthy victors. pic.twitter.com/H8vY27GE1Z
Time and space were at a premium with both teams attempting to press out of possession and it took a ball over the top from Jonjo Shelvey to hand Miguel Almiron a half-chance with 21 minutes gone, but although the Paraguay international’s controlling touch was good, his shot did not match it.
Newcastle thought they had taken a 24th-minute lead when a prone Wood fired home after Wolves had failed to clear Guimaraes’ cross – after he and Almiron had cleverly exchanged passes – but although there was no offside flag, it was decided there should have been following a VAR review.
Jonny blazed over from distance two minutes later as Wolves fleetingly responded, but they were largely content to attempt to contain the Magpies during a first half of little real incident with Joelinton glancing a Matt Targett free-kick well wide two minutes before the break.
With wing-back Marcal much further advanced after the break, Wanderers looked significantly more threatening, although goalkeeper Jose Sa had to pluck Dan Burn’s shot out of the air after he had run on to Wood’s 52nd-minute flick-on.
GOAL! | 1-0! ⚽#WOL keeper Jose Sa brings down Chris Wood and the #NUFC striker slots away the resultant penalty to score his FIRST goal at St. James' Park! #NEWWOL pic.twitter.com/scunwcNmci
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 8, 2022
Hwang Hee-chan saw his attempt blocked at close range after he had carved his way into the Newcastle box three minutes later and Joao Moutinho drilled a cross across the face of goal with the game opening up.
An out-of-sorts Allan Saint-Maximin was enduring a frustrating evening and skied a 64th-minute effort well over from Guimaraes’ cross before failing to pick out Wood at the far post seconds later.
But the former Burnley striker finally got his chance with 18 minutes remaining when, after he had been upended by Sa as he ran on to Joelinton’s pass, he sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot to open the scoring.
Guimaraes might have made it 2-0, but saw his scuffed shot trickle just wide, and the lead was desperately fragile with Fabio Silva heading wastefully wide before being denied by a fine save from Martin Dubravka as time ran down.
