Newcastle 1-2 Fulham

A phenomenal second half performance saw Fulham come from behind to defeat Newcastle United 2-1 at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon.

A difficult first 45 in which we didn’t manage to have a shot on target had us trailing to Jacob Murphy’s crisp strike, but it was a different story after the break, with the Whites taking total control of proceedings.

Raúl Jiménez started and finished the move that got us level, side footing home a half volley that clipped Murphy on its way through.

And then two substitutes combined to secure the points when Rodrigo Muniz got a slight but vital touch on Andreas Pereira’s free-kick.

There was one enforced change from the side that began the Manchester United defeat, with Adama Traoré coming in for the unfortunate Harry Wilson, who faces a number of months on the sidelines.

Both sides approached the game with an attacking mindset, but that didn’t lead to a glut of goalmouth action in the opening stages, with off target efforts from Bruno Guimaraes and Raúl the only attempts in the first quarter of the game.

Murphy and Anthony Gordon were lively customers on the Newcastle flanks, but their respective efforts were wild when they each managed to fashion half a sight of goal from distance.

The best chance actually came when adventurous centre-back Fabian Schar marauded forward on 28 minutes, poking goalwards from Guimaraes’ cute pass, but Bernd Leno read it and smothered.

Leno soon went from denying attacks to supplying them, picking out Raúl with a fine pass over the shoulder of the last man, but our number seven’s cut with the outside of his boot could find neither goal nor teammate.

The momentum was swinging our way, though, with Adama then beating his man in the air to meet Alex Iwobi’s hanging cross, only to send his header wide of the far post.

That said, Sandro Tonali was very unfortunate not to break the deadlock with the game’s next attack, seeing his thunderbolt from 30 yards smash off the crossbar.

But the home side weren’t far off breaking the deadlock. Gordon managed to roll Timothy Castagne and burst past Joachim Andersen on the right flank before sending in a low cross that took a nick off Calvin Bassey. That touch allowed the ball to drop perfectly for Murphy, who made no mistake with his composed finish.

Despite a positive response from Fulham, it could have been 2-0 soon after had Leno not saved well from Tino Livramento with his right boot.

The Whites – wearing the purple third strip for the first time – began the second half with purpose, with Adama having a shot blocked and Sander Berge testing Martin Dubravka, both within the first minute.

That was a fairly routine stop for Dubravka, but his next was far more impressive two minutes later. After Fulham won the ball just inside the United half, Emile Smith Rowe dribbled forwards determinedly and drilled a left-footer towards the far post from the edge of the box – Dubravka pushing it away at full stretch.

Bassey then headed Adama’s cross over and Dan Burn deflected Raúl’s shot marginally wide as we continued to turn the screw.

Raúl’s movement was proving fruitful, and he met two Saša Lukić corners in quick succession as the hour mark approached – the first hit Tonali to take it away from goal, and the second he headed over.

An equaliser seemed imminent, and it arrived courtesy of a beautiful move. Raúl started and finished it, intercepting a pass 30 yards from his own goal and driving forwards. The ball was worked to Adama who clipped over to Antonee Robinson at the far post, whose cushioned cross was half volleyed in by Raúl, via a deflection off Murphy.

Fulham had been the dominant force since the restart, but there were two hairy moments following the equaliser. First, substitute Joe Willock failed to connect when found in space six yards from goal, and then Alexander Isak rattled the crossbar with a lovely curling effort.

Marco Silva had introduced Andreas and Muniz to try and get our noses in front, and with eight minutes to play the Brazilian duo combined to do just that. Andreas swung his wide free-kick into a dangerous near post area, picking out the run of Muniz who got the deftest of touches to send the ball beyond Dubravka.

As was the case with Fulham in the first half, Newcastle failed to register an effort on target in the second, with a Lloyd Kelly header over the bar the closest they came to restoring parity, as the lads defended valiantly to secure a first Premier League win at St James’ Park since 2009.