LONDON (Reuters) – Newcastle United moved back up to third in the Premier League with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Brentford on Saturday after Ivan Toney missed a penalty for the London side for the first time in his career.
Brentford won a penalty when Sven Botman clumsily brought down Kevin Schade, but Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope guessed correctly to deny Toney who missed from the spot for the first time since 2018 having converted his previous 24 attempts.
But Brentford were given another lifeline when Alexander Isak fouled Rico Henry and the referee awarded another penalty after watching the replay. This time, Toney made no mistake and beat Pope to score his 18th league goal of the season.
The tide turned in the second half, however, as Newcastle came out firing and equalised nine minutes after the restart when Joelinton’s attempted cross went in off goalkeeper David Raya’s foot.
An unmarked Isak then made amends with an emphatic finish after he was set up by his strike partner and second half substitute Callum Wilson, with the Swedish striker guiding his effort past Raya to make it 2-1.
Newcastle’s fifth consecutive win moved them up to 56 points from 29 games — the same as Manchester United who beat Everton 2-0 earlier on Saturday — but Eddie Howe’s side have a superior goal difference.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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