A VAR check on a potential Martinez handball in the box only added to the frenzy, although the assistants at Stockley Park correctly waved away the visitors’ intense appeals, as the ball bounced off the skipper’s body and onto his arm.
The Reds were undoubtedly being pinned back by the Magpies, but United were still managing to find ways forward on the break. Martinez delivered a pinpoint free-kick from deep which Dalot neatly touched to earn himself a one-on-one with Ramsdale in one such scenario, but the defender couldn’t keep his subsequent effort down. He may have been just offside, in any case.
Waves of Newcastle attacks followed, with scrambles in the six-yard box followed by efforts from the likes of Joelinton further out, but United stood resolute against those challenges heading into the final 10 minutes, even though Shaw and Martinez departed.
The pressure did not relent until the referee’s final whistle, beyond the seven minutes of stoppage time, but the Reds’ defences were not breached, with a high claim from Lammens, near the end, celebrated like a goal inside the Theatre of Dreams.
It had been a testing and sometimes ugly half of football for Amorim’s depleted side, but we did everything necessary to hold our slender lead, banking a crucial three Premier League points in the process.
