Newcastle United end the year with a much-needed away win beating Burnley 3-1 at Turf Moor
Newcastle United kept up their dominance over Burnley with an eighth consecutive Premier League win over the Clarets on Tuesday night.
The Magpies roared into a two-goal lead in the first six minutes thanks to goals from Joelinton and Yoane Wissa, both of whom were thrown into the starting eleven for this game by Eddie Howe.
After such a strong start, it felt like the rout was on, but as is Newcastle's way this season, they felt that the job was done and took their foot off the gas.
Burnley got back into it in the first half thanks to a goal from Josh Laurent midway through the half, and then it became an all too familiar story of Newcastle losing a grip on a game in which they should have already been out of sight.
It was the cliched game of two halves, but it was a case of job done for the Magpies
Newcastle simply didn't come out for the second half, as a Fabian Schar goal line clearance, the bar and a desperate claw from Nick Pope kept Burnley from drawing level.
Indeed, the Magpies didn't even wake up again until around the 77th minute when they started to actually put a bit of effort into ensuring they returned to the north east with three points.
Amrando Broja tried a bit of dirty tactics/dark arts or whatever you want to call it when he hobbled back onto the field of play only to fall over again to force a stoppage in play, but Burnley were soon punished for it.
Newcastle fans thanked former goalkeeper Martin Dubravka for his error by singing his name at the end of the game
A bit of confusion at the back saw Martin Dubravka fail to clear the ball convincingly after racing out of his area, and Bruno Guimaraes seized the opportunity to curl a 30-yard effort into an open goal three minutes into stoppage time to seal the win for Eddie Howe's men.
It was far from convincing, and we were once again left wondering just what Eddie Howe says to his team at halftime because it seems to have the reverse effect to what you'd expect a team talk to do.
However, I did say yesterday that I'd take a scrappy 1-0 win, and we got a scrappy 3-1 win. The scoreline flattered us, but at the end of the day, we don't care. We got the three points, ended the year on a high, and now we go into January with some hope and positivity.
HOWAY EDDIE HOWE'S SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON MAGS!
