Newcastle United travelled to Brighton & Hove Albion’s Amex Stadium for a match between first and second in the English Championship. With the top two sides in the division earning automatic promotion to the Premier League, matches really don’t get any bigger than this.
Albion took the lead through Glenn Murray after Murray, Newcastle’s Ciaran Clark and goalkeeper Karl Darlow all clashed together in a clusterf**k of cliche Championship football, the referee pointing to spot.
GOAL! Controversial penalty but @GM_83's not the sort to fuss over the details. 1-0 in @OfficialBHAFC's favor. https://t.co/zXJA4IgKdY
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) February 28, 2017
Albion held onto that lead until the 80th minute, and it looked as though they were on the verge of opening a four-point gap at the top of the table. Cue a clueless wonder strike from Newcastle’s Mohamed Diame that ended up in the top-corner.
A corner ended up at the feet of Christian Atsu. His horribly mis-hit shot was rifled at Daryl Murphy, whose mis-control ricocheted towards Diame, who tried to sort his feet out for a second but then opted to just stand completely still, the ball striking the outside of his foot and looping into the net with supreme accuracy.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
THERE'S THE EQUALIZER!
Possibly the ugliest top-corner goal you'll ever see, unless you're a @NUFC fan! #EFL https://t.co/JUE2ipsyaz— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) February 28, 2017
To make matters worse for Albion, Ayoze Perez popped up to score a winner in the 89th minute for Newcastle.
TOON ARMY! TOON ARMY! @AyozePG stirs home a low cross to bring @NUFC back to the summit. #EFL https://t.co/s4WlKAGBkb
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) February 28, 2017
Suddenly it’s Newcastle at the top of the table with a two-point lead over Albion after 34 matches.