If Newcastle’s rivals for a Champions League place had hoped Eddie Howe’s players might be partied out after ending a 70-year domestic trophy drought they were destined for disappointment.
Admittedly Howe’s team were not at their best but, thanks to the most audacious of impossibly angled winners from Sandro Tonali, Newcastle ultimately found a way to defuse Brentford’s clever, and near constant, threat.
While defeat to a cross-shot – Tonali admitted it was “70% a cross” – was probably harsh on Thomas Frank’s inventive side, it lifted Newcastle to fifth, one point ahead of Chelsea who host Tottenham on Thursday night. Europe beckons, tantalisingly, for the newly minted Carabao Cup winners.
Howe’s Wembley history-makers may be in the words of their captain, Bruno Guimarães, “legends” on Tyneside now, but they were up against opponents aiming to extend a run of five straight away wins.
“We were always in the game,” said the visiting manager, whose players remained unfazed as Newcastle initially stretched them down the flanks, nearly taking an early lead when Alexander Isak headed narrowly wide. “Tonali’s goal was one in a million.”
While Isak menaced before his eventual withdrawal with a tight groin, Brentford came alive on the break. It was easy to appreciate why Frank’s right winger, Bryan Mbeumo, ranks so highly on Howe’s summer shopping list.
Mbeumo’s amalgam of outstanding movement and laser-like accuracy of delivery dictated that, on the left of the home defence, Tino Livramento and Dan Burn could never relax. Neither could Tonali. Howe had his Italy midfielder to thank for intercepting a series of counterattacks as his intelligent interpretation of the No 6 role once again underlined his importance.
As the dangerous Kevin Schade, deployed nominally on the left wing, and the rest of Frank’s front line interchanged positions with a dizzying rapidity, Newcastle looked more leggy than legends.
They are nothing if not resilient though and they do possess Isak. Sure enough, with half-time approaching, the Sweden striker conjured the opening that prefaced a narrowly offside Harvey Barnes turning the ball into an empty net.
Undeterred by the decision to disallow that goal, Isak swiftly connected with Jacob Murphy’s superb cross and, capitalising on Mbeumo’s unfortunate stumble, volleyed his 20th Premier League goal of the season beyond Mark Flekken’s reach from close range.
Not that Mbeumo is too shabby in front of goal either. He duly equalised with his 16th goal of a tremendous campaign following Nick Pope’s foul on Yoane Wissa, punishing the goalkeeper from the penalty spot.
When Ethan Pinnock’s header subsequently rebounded off the crossbar, Newcastle wobbled. The moment had arrived for Tonali to reassert himself and he did not disappoint. Given that he struck his goal from a classic crossing position near a corner flag it was also one of the most impudent finishes imaginable.
Whether it was really supposed to be a cross or not, the former Milan playmaker had spotted Flekken off his line and reacted instinctively. It proved the cue for the Tonali song – “drinks Moretti, eats spaghetti”, to tumble, gratefully, down from the stands.
Afterwards Frank, smiling ruefully, asked the man of the moment: “Did you mean that?” Tonali grinned broadly. As he later reflected: “It was hard for the goalkeeper and hard for me but there was also a little bit of luck.”
Howe, winking, joked that Tonali practised the manoeuvre every day in training.“I was mightily relieved when it hit the back of the net,” said Newcastle’s manager.
“We weren’t at our finest. I’m relieved to come through with three points.”
