Nick Woltemade scored twice against Chelsea.placeholder image
Nick Woltemade scored twice against Chelsea. | Getty Images
Newcastle United 2-2 Chelsea: Nick Woltemade scored a first-half brace but it wasn’t enough for The Magpies to secure three points at St James’ Park.
Nick Woltemade was honest in his assessment of Newcastle United’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon.
The German’s brace saw The Magpies race into a 2-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes with chances to extend the lead come half-time.
But Reece James pulled a goal back for the visitors minutes into the second half from a direct free-kick and Joao Pedro capitalised on a Malick Thiaw slip to make it 2-2 heading into the closing stages.
Newcastle United 2-2 Chelsea: An eventful clash at St James’ Park
Both sides pushed for a winner late on but ultimately the spoils were shared and Newcastle were left to rue their missed chances and a couple of key refereeing decisions that went against them.
Woltemade appealed for a handball after his back-heel hit off the hand of Wesley Fofana inside the penalty area in the first half. In the second, Newcastle were denied what they felt was a blatant foul on Anthony Gordon inside the penalty area by Trevoh Chalobah.
Magpies head coach Eddie Howe described the decision by referee Andy Madley as a ‘clear error’ and was left stunned when it was not overturned by a VAR check.
And after such a positive first half from Newcastle, they ended the game with a sense of disappointment having dropped more points from a strong position.
Nick Woltemade delivers ‘not good’ Newcastle United verdict after ‘amazing first half’
Woltemade quickly put his derby blues behind him with a brace inside the opening 20 minutes at St James’ Park to take his goal tally to nine for the season for Newcastle.
But the German was honest in his assessment of the match afterwards as he told TNT Sports: "Not good. We played an amazing first half with great energy and pressed really well.
“But in the second half, we still did quite well but it's unlucky we conceded two goals in two situations from which we normally don't concede.
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"If you saw how we played in the first half, we can win against every team, I don't know why we conceded two goals. It happened. We'll keep working on it and maybe next time, we can play 90 minutes like that."
Woltemade scored the decisive own goal that handed Sunderland a 1-0 win over Newcastle at the Stadium of Light last weekend. But he was cheered onto the pitch during Wednesday’s 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Fulham and put in an impressive display upon returning to the starting line-up on Saturday.
"Last week was not a good week or good game for me,” Woltemade added. “When I came into the [Carabao Cup] game on Wednesday, the crowd sang my name which was so lovely. It was amazing and I knew they still liked me even when I scored the own goal.
“I wanted to give a good performance today and I think I did. I just want to say thank you to the fans for still being good with me."
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