Never has a Manchester United victory been cheered so heartily on Tyneside.
Ruben Amorim’s team could not take care of their own Champions League aspirations this week, but they looked after Newcastle by beating Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
It means Eddie Howe’s side will be playing in Europe’s top competition next season – not that they looked like a Champions League outfit here.
Everton were deserved winners and man-of-the-match Jordan Pickford very nearly enjoyed the perfect double, on the back of hometown club Sunderland’s Championship play-off win 24 hours earlier. He would have happily spoilt Newcastle’s end-of-season party. If not for Manchester United, he would have done.
It became apparent the longer the game went on that Newcastle would need a favour from elsewhere, so poor were they. That need was heightened when Carlos Alcarez headed the visitors in front on 65 minutes.
But then news from Manchester began to filter through and, despite Howe saying beforehand that he would ignore the results of others, all of a sudden they became far more important than what was playing out in front of him.
Newcastle were able to secure Champions League football despite their 1-0 defeat by Everton
Loan star Carlos Alcaraz headed home in the 65th minute to score the only goal of the game
Man United’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa meant Newcastle finished fifth place on goal difference
Everton had taken a hose to the red-hot atmosphere that insulated St James’ Park in the moments before kick-off. So much for wearing flip-flops, they turned up in boots and with their studs sharpened.
This was supposed to be a stroll against the strollers for Newcastle. As it was, the hosts had to run far harder in defence of their goal than they had anticipated. Nervous excitement very quickly made way for nerves inside St James’ and, come half-time, they were relieved to still be level.
Pickford made four good stops before the break, but Nick Pope was called into more evasive action at the other end. The pick from a catalogue of saves was his fingertip brush over the crossbar to deny Alvarez in the 37th minute. Everton, not for the first time, had exploited a weakness down Newcastle’s right and Alcarez’s header from Vitalii Mykolenko’s delivery had looked set for the top corner until Pope’s intervention.
Pickford was already public enemy number one because of his place of birth. It was him being in the right place in Everton’s goal that strengthened the home loathing. There was a double block from Sandro Tonali and Alexander Isak, and then a pair of saves to keep out Sven Botman from successive corners.
Howe and Jason Tindall were locked in conversation on the touchline in the minutes before half-time. When a third coach, Graeme Jones, joined the touchline conference, you knew that change was coming.
Anthony Gordon was hooked after a first half in which he had rarely troubled Ashley Young, the 39-year-old filling at right back. On came Joe Willock and later Kieran Trippier, but with change nothing changed. If anything, Newcastle got worse. That was not the fault of the substitutes, but more a collective malaise that had long since set in.
Isak was showing far more animation in an exchange with the coaching staff than he was in the penalty area, while Burn urged his own fans to calm down as anxiety spread. It did not work and, when Alcaraz flashed in from Mykolenko’s cross, there was outright panic.
Pickford was not to be beaten but, just as he was saving a blast from Isak, cheers emanated from the Gallowgate End. Manchester United had scored, and then they scored again.
Newcastle had lost a football match but won the lottery.
