Newcastle United gave a good account of themselves against Liverpool at St James' Park despite being down to 10 men after Anthony Gordon was given marching orders for a nasty tackle on Liverpool Captain Virgil van Dijk.
The dismissal came in the closing moments of the first half that saw Gordon’s studs leave visible marks on the defender’s calf. Initially, Gordon was shown a yellow card by referee Simon Hooper. The decision was then upgraded to a straight red after a VAR review
Van Dijk later revealed deep stud marks on his leg where Gordon collided with him. Gordon’s suspension adds to Eddie Howe’s striker crisis. The England international now possibly faces a three-match ban, leaving Newcastle short of attacking options at this moment.
Anthony Gordon issues an apology
Following the red card incident, Anthony Gordon has taken to his social media handle and publicly issued an apology. He wrote, “I want to sincerely apologise to my teammates and the fans. My intentions were pure. I was just trying to create energy in the game and I mistimed the tackle.”
In his statement, Gordon extended his apology specifically to Van Dijk, noting: “I also want to apologise to Virgil. I would never intend to tackle somebody like this on purpose. We spoke after and he knows that.”
16-year-old Rio Ngumoha wins it for Liverpool
Sixteen-year-old substitute Rio Ngumoha scored a sensational last-gasp winner as Liverpool overcame 10-man Newcastle 3-2 in a Premier League game for the ages on Monday.
Newcastle played the second half with 10 men after Anthony Gordon was sent off just before halftime. When Liverpool, 1-0 up at the break, went 2-0 ahead seconds into the new half it looked like game over for Eddie Howe’s depleted side.
But Bruno Guimarães’ header in the 57th minute gave it a lifeline and the crowd of 52,200 at St James’ Park erupted in the 88th when substitute William Osula got on the end of a long punt to poke the ball past Allison and level the scores.
Second-half injuries to Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali and Fabian Schar prompted at least 11 minutes of added time and, as Newcastle continued to pound Liverpool’s ragged rearguard, it looked like it might grab the most unlikely of winners.
Ngumoha was given his Premier league debut six minutes into added time and four minutes later the unmarked winger swept home the winner with aplomb.
The goal came four days before his 17th birthday and made him the fourth youngest scorer in Premier League history behind James Vaughan, James Milner, and Wayne Rooney.
