After 80 minutes that felt like a slog deep in midwinter rather than Premier League game No 6, Wolves and Newcastle awoke. Raúl Jiménez’s strike from a poorly cleared Pedro Neto free-kick seemed to have made it a third consecutive 1-0 win for Wolves, only for Jacob Murphy to rewrite the script.
Steve Bruce’s side had barely moved beyond the centre circle in the second half. Yet after claiming a free-kick to the left of Wolves’ area, up stepped Murphy to curl the ball around the wall and past Rui Patrício’s fingertips for the equaliser. If this was a touch unfair on Wolves they have to accept some culpability for taking the match to Newcastle only sporadically.
For Nuno Espírito Santo blame lay with the wall’s construction rather than his goalkeeper. “We made a mistake with the set-up,” the Wolves manager said. “The ball cannot go in [via] the near side. We made a mistake in the final moments that punishes us.”
Bruce was happy for Murphy, a 25-year-old who had been a fringe player, being previously loaned to West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday. “It was good to see Jacob repeat what he’s done on the training ground with the free-kick – he was arguably our best player,” the manager said. “He’s found it difficult to work himself into the team the past two years so I’m delighted for him. He’s worked hard. I never contemplated it [loaning him out again]. He’s really grasped the situation – looked a different player, had a different attitude from him.” Certainly physically he looked in condition – and looked like he wanted to be a Newcastle player.
When in flow Wolves are a medley of gold shirts running to and off the ball and from kick-off they had the visitors chasing. Daniel Podence, playing off Jiménez, drifted into space at will, one of these moves saw him turning and unloading a shot at Karl Darlow, who saved low down.
Three more attacking moves followed. First, Neto hit a corner straight into Darlow’s gloves; then Jiménez twice miscued when he should have connected cleanly. It meant Wolves had failed to convert from four opportunities and Newcastle quickly posed their own threat. Callum Wilson raced on to a long ball before Max Kilman’s challenge conceded a corner.
The fluidity of Wolves’ play is complemented by tenacity, though. It was illustrated in a response that once more had Newcastle pinned back as possession was tapped around them.
Yet Bruce’s side were able to stymie the ball being moved into the danger area. This ensured that as half‑time approached entertainment had become as rare as any actual attempts on goal. When Ryan Fraser ran along the right and floated in a cross aimed at Wilson this pattern might have been broken but the ball was too close to Patrício, who gathered with ease. And, when Miguel Almirón skated through the middle to cause a Wolves backpedal, the pass might have been weighted perfectly for Allan Saint‑Maximin but the No 10’s shot was skewed.
Finally Podence, at the other end, twisted and turned to leave two Newcastle defenders spectators. The subsequent ball possessed menace – Jiménez rose and only a well-timed Jamaal Lascelles intervention prevented the Mexican heading at goal.
The mood caught on. Tempo was upped and quality elevated. Suddenly Saint-Maximin was doing his own swerve-and-slalom to cut in from the left before letting fly from 20 yards: the ball ricocheted off Willy Boly so Patrício was grateful to save.
Still, as the second half began the sides remained in deadlock. And the fare was back to being soporific.
After Jiménez again snatched at a shot and Murphy hacked away from under Newcastle’s bar Podence returned to creator mode. This time a dip of the hips took him into yards of clear grass and he teed up Rúben Neves with precision. But the midfielder became the latest to lack composure, slashing the ball wildly over.
Podence was undeterred. A little later he danced once more inside Newcastle’s area and when he shot the ball appeared to hit the arm of Federico Fernández; yet VAR checked and ruled no penalty which seemed odd as numerous similar incidents have been penalised this season.
Soon the Newcastle bench were themselves shouting handball when an Almirón effort pinballed around the area but this did not interest VAR. When Nuno took off Podence for Adama Traoré on 67 minutes it appeared quaint as this removed the best performer. But, now came a finish that did at least feature goals – each highlighting what had previously been missing.
Afterwards Bruce said Jonjo Shelvey did not feature because of a “sportsman’s hernia” and may be available again after the international break next month.
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