Jan Paul van Hecke knew he had a big task to keep Newcastle’s new striker quiet – and he was doing a sterling job until a moment of magic left the Amex stunned.
Nick Woltemade’s superb flick – to level the scoring on the 76th minute – was straight out of the top drawer. There was simply nothing the Brighton defence could have done to stop it.
The 23-year-old, standing at 6ft 6in, has scored in five consecutive games for club and country. He has netted five goals for Newcastle since his move from VfB Stuttgart.
Brighton knew he was the danger man coming into the match on Saturday afternoon but it has to be said – Woltemade was relatively anonymous for 75 minutes.
Nick Woltemade’s superb flick – to level the scoring on the 76th minute – was straight out of the top drawer. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)placeholder image
Nick Woltemade’s superb flick – to level the scoring on the 76th minute – was straight out of the top drawer. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
That was simply down to Van Hecke and his fellow centre-half Lewis Dunk, who were faultless on the day.
They remained faultless even after the goal.
"He's a good player and I was looking forward to playing against him,” Van Hecke said.
"I thought I did really well, but then he did an exceptional goal. I didn't even know how he did it, but that's top quality and a fair play to him.
"He wants to link the game well. I think he does it well. He's, of course, good in the air. He's quite tall and tries to go back post.”
He said: “In my conference yesterday, I said I hoped he didn't score against us.
"He scored an unbelievable goal. I am impressed with how fast he's adapted to the Premier League."
It was Brighton’s own number nine who had the last word though. Danny Welbeck scored his second goal of the afternoon to seal a deserved 2-1 victory, as Brighton extended their unbeaten run to five – in all competitions.
Van Hecke said: “I was really happy that we scored [the winner] and we could see everyone threw their body on the line. Everyone was really happy with the win.
"I thought we did really well. We had some really good blocks and I think overall it was a good performance.”
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