- Magpies lead 1-0 at half
- Gabbiadini bags brace
- Perez scores 86 seconds later
- 31 total shots (19 for NUFC)
Manolo Gabbiadini scored a pair of equalizers, and Southampton came within a hair of a deserved win against Newcastle United in a 2-2 draw at St. Mary’s on Sunday.
Isaac Hayden and Ayoze Perez scored for the Magpies, who led in each half.
Newcastle inches to 11 points, staying ninth on the table, while Saints are dead-even with 10th place West Brom ahead of the Baggies’ Monday match versus Leicester City.
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There was good pace to the game early, and Christian Atsu missed the left post with a hard left-footed shot off a Newcastle corner kick.
Dusan Tadic had a chance for Southampton inside of 15 minutes, but his effort sailed over Rob Elliot’s frame. Moments later, Tadic failed to head a Nathan Redmond cross into the goal.
Newcastle claimed a series of corner kicks as the match neared 20 minutes, but Jamaal Lascelles’ header was claimed by ex-Magpies backstop Fraser Forster.
Hayden then scored, depositing a blocked Christian Atsu shot past a helpless Forster.
Saints began to assert a hold on the game over the next 10 minutes, and Maya Yoshida sent a tempting cross that found no bull’s eye in the 29th minute.
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1 - Newcastle have scored an away goal in the 1st half of a PL match for the first time since Nov 2015 at C Palace; 687 days ago. Rare. pic.twitter.com/Z4ocJ0qHHF
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 15, 2017
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Forster saw a Joselu shot hit the cross bar and then pushed a rebound out for a corner kick.
That’s when Gabbiadini worked Javier Manquillo on the right edge, working to the top of the 18 and hitting a low left-footed shot past Elliot.
It was a fine goal.
Perez made sure the stalemate lasted barely more than 60 seconds, with Jonjo Shelvey starting a sequence that saw the Spaniard bury his own rebound from an acute angle for his first Premier League goal since March 5, 2016.
DeAndre Yedlin should have been sent off in the 56th minute when, on yellow, his studs-up challenge was let off with a warning.
Gabbiadini leveled for Saints when Shane Long hit the deck in the box after contact from Florian Lejeune.
The French defender had a header cleared off the line by Steven Davis in an 89th minute bid for redemption. It came during a stretch of near-complete Saints domination.