By Frank Ulom
NEWCASTLE (CONVERSEER) – Brenden Aaronson went from hero to villain on Wednesday night in a Premier League game between Newcastle United vs Leeds United at St James’ Park, scoring two goals and conceding a penalty.
The American, who had only scored two goals for the entire season up to that point, netted two for newly promoted Leeds United, with his second deemed the winner until he conceded a penalty in the 88th minute, which Newcastle United converted and later went on to win in added time.
Leeds started very well and won a free-kick when Nick Woltemade committed a rough foul on Joe Rodon in the 31st minute. The delivery was met by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who found Aaronson who beat the Newcastle keeper, Nick Pope, from outside the box with the right foot to make it 1-0 in the 32nd minute.
Newcastle then equalised within 4 minutes, after Woltemade made a clean tackle and won possession for his team, setting up Harvey Barnes, who scored with his left foot to level the game in the 36th minute.
Just at the end of the first half, Calvert-Lewin restored Leeds’ lead, scoring from the penalty spot with the right foot after Pope chose the wrong side. Newcastle had a penalty shout in the 45+8th minute but the referee believed Joelinton dived in the penalty box. Leeds went into the break with a 2-1 advantage.
The second half started with the same tempo, and Newcastle restored parity via Joelinton’s header after meeting Bruno Guimaraes’ flick in the 54th minute.
Aaronson gave Leeds the lead again in the 79th minute, collecting Ilia Gruev’s pass and slotting home in off the right post of Pope, after the former collected a loose pass from Newcastle’s substitute, Yoane Wissa.
The game was going Leeds’ way, and they thought they’d won it until Aaronson intercepted a Newcastle’s cross with his arm in the 18-yard box. After the VAR check, the referee decided to stay with the initial call – a penalty for Newcastle United! Guimaraes stepped up for Newcastle and put it away from the penalty spot with the right foot, sending Lucas Perri the wrong way, to make it 3-3.
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The fourth official added 10 minutes due to stoppages, and Barnes reacted first on the loose ball and put it past the stretching arm of Perri in the 90+12th minute, after Leeds players failed to clear their box following a cross from way out of the 18-yard.
St. James’ Park erupted as Newcastle held onto the lead to win their third game in a row. They moved to 6th place, above Manchester United who failed to win at Burnley, on goal difference.
Leeds, on the other hand, sit 16th in the table on 22 points, just one above Nottingham Forest, who have 21 points, and eight above West Ham in the relegation zone.
Converseer reports that the match will go down as one of the classic matches in the Premier League.
