Newcastle snatch victory in seven-goal thriller against Leeds

By Damian Spellman, Press Association

Harvey Barnes snatched a 4-3 victory over Leeds as Newcastle served up a seven-goal Premier League thriller of which Kevin Keegan would be proud.

On a night when it was announced that the man known on Tyneside simply as ‘King Kev’ is undergoing treatment for cancer, the team for which he played and then managed twice laid on a madcap 90 minutes during which the visitors led three times.

The excellent Brenden Aaronson twice and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, from the penalty spot, put Leeds ahead, but Barnes, Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes levelled to set up a grandstand finish in which Barnes won it front of a mesmerised crowd of 52,176.

Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri enjoyed an escape after 14 minutes when he dropped Malick Thiaw’s looping header from Lewis Hall’s free-kick under pressure from Fabian Schar, who prodded the ball into the empty net, only for referee Michael Salisbury to rule he had been fouled, and that rather set the tone.

Anton Stach drilled a 25th-minute shot into Nick Pope’s midriff after Guimaraes had been dispossessed 25 yards out, but Lewis Miley flicked a header over from the Brazil international’s corner at the other end as the home side responded.

Pascal Struijkglanced a header wide from Stach’s corner, but Perri made a good low save to keep out Barnes’ 31st-minute strike after he had combined with Anthony Gordon before carving his way towards goal.

However, it was Daniel Farke’s men who took the lead seconds later when, not for the first time, Thiaw was caught in possession by Calvert-Lewin and Aaronson took full advantage with a smart finish.

Newcastle were back in it within four minutes, Barnes finishing from close range after Guimaraes, Gordon and Nick Woltemade had exchanged passes deftly inside the box to set him up.

They might have been ahead six minutes before the break when Gordon’s deep free-kick evaded all the men in the middle and came back off the far post, but they went in behind when, after Jaka Bijol’s header had hit Thiaw’s arm, Calvert-Lewin converted the resulting penalty deep into stoppage time.

Pope had to block Aaronson’s 53rd-minute shot after a pacy Leeds counter-attack, but the Magpies levelled for a second time two minutes later when Miley recycled Guimaraes’ over-hit pass to allow the Brazilian to cross for compatriot Joelinton to flick a header past Perri.

Joelinton and Woltemade saw shots blocked before Schar rattled a post amid a 65th-minute goalmouth scramble before James Justin’s header from an Aaronson cross came back off the crossbar with Pope in no-man’s land as both sides sought a winner.

Leeds thought they had got it with 11 minutes remaining when Ilia Gruev played Aaronson into space once again and he fired home off the far post.

The twist in the tail came with a minute remaining when Aaronson was adjudged to have blocked Hall’s cross with his arm and Guimaraes dispatched the resulting spot-kick, and there was further drama to come in the last seconds when, after Guimaraes’ cross had been blocked, Barnes turned to fire past Perri and win it.