Newcastle United were beaten 2-1 by Nottingham Forest on Friday night.
Newcastle United have lost three games in a row in all competitions after losing 2-1 to Nottingham Forest on Friday evening – but that doesn’t even begin to tell the story of their defeat.
The Magpies had suffered defeats to Blackburn Rovers and Hull City over the last week, and were looking to get back to winning ways with a trip to take on Forest at the City Ground.
Their early fortunes looked bleak as Jonjo Shelvey was sent off for kicking out at Forest midfielder Henri Lansbury, but Karl Darlow saved Nicklas Bendtner’s subsequent penalty, and Matt Ritchie opened the scoring for Newcastle just over ten minutes later.
Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez and Isaac Hayden
Newcastle lost another player as Paul Dummett was sent off for fouling Lansbury on the stroke of half time, but the midfielder stepped up and saw his penalty saved by former Forest ace Darlow too.
Rafael Benitez knew that Forest, with a two-man advantage, would come out and attack in the second half, and Montanier’s side got an equaliser through Bendtner, and then claimed a late winner as ex-Forest defender Jamaal Lascelles scored an own goal to hand his former club the victory.
Newcastle’s Matt Ritchie celebrates scoring with Isaac Hayden
Newcastle had cause for contention over both penalties and red cards, but fans found something to shout about after the final whistle – the performance of midfielder Isaac Hayden.
The summer signing from Arsenal was seen as one for the future, but he’s becoming an important player for Benitez, and showed his quality again with a superb battling performance in the Newcastle midfield.
Newcastle’s Issac Hayden and Nottingham Forest’s Henri Lansbury in action
During and after the game, Newcastle fans took to Twitter to rave about Hayden’s display, claiming he was ‘immense’, ‘outstanding’ and ‘absolutely class’ at the City Ground.
Magpies supporters suggested that Hayden has been a bargain so far, and believe he is becoming a really impressive midfielder, whose tackling ability has become vital for Benitez’s side.
Here are some of the tweets from Newcastle fans after Hayden’s performance against Nottingham Forest…
What did you think of Hayden’s performance?
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