Tottenham vs Newcastle match report: Ayoze Perez scores injury-time winner to inflict defeat on Spurs

Tottenham 1 Newcastle 2: Eric Dier had given Spurs a first half lead before Aleksandar Mitrovic levelled the scores

Ayoze Perez scores a late winner for Newcastle against Tottenham (GETTY IMAGES)

Tottenham were 16 minutes away from going fourth here but when the final whistle went the players were on the floor and the fans were booing. The Newcastle players were in a gleeful huddle and their fans were even more excited. Having thought very seriously about the prospect of their sixth away league defeat of the season, Newcastle had turned the match on its head and won 2-1.

For Newcastle, this was the best moment of their season so far. For Tottenham it was certainly the worst. They lost this fixture here 2-1 last year, taking the lead and then collapsing in the second half. After a season of steady progress this felt like a worrying step back into their fragile past.

While the circumstances of the defeat were dramatic, it was not unfortunate or undeserved. Spurs had control of the game and let it slip. They did not create enough chances and were too open at the back. Mauricio Pochettino has done excellent work at Tottenham on their mentality, fitness and application but this afternoon showed how just a slight drop in standards can lead to a great unravelling.

Spurs were never at their fluent best even in the first half which they dominated. Rob Elliot had to save twice to deny Erik Lamela, but there was no great barrage of chances. The opening goal came when Eric Dier made a sharp run to the near post to meet Christian Eriksen’s corner, heading it into the far top corner of the net.

Tottenham needed to either kill the game or lock it down in the second half but in fact they could do neither. Harry Kane forced a good save from Elliot from distance but Spurs barely threatened to go 2-0 up. The tempo and intensity and incision which Pochettino has tried to hard-wire into this side were missing, and Newcastle were growing into the game long before they scored.

Pochettino was understandably disappointed with how his players’ levels had dropped after a promising start. “We lost control and started to make easy mistakes,” he said. “We needed to play with one touch, not three touches. We needed to play forward, but we dropped. We started to give the opposition belief, and control of the game.”

Newcastle played well in the second half but Tottenham allowed them to. This should have been an afternoon when they asserted their Champions League credentials, but in fact they undermined them. Victory would have moved Spurs into the top four, ahead of Manchester United on goal difference. Now they are back in fifth, level on points with Crystal Palace. Their 14-game unbeaten league run is over.

“If you want to play for the top the pressure is big,” Pochettino said afterwards. He must hope that his young players respond to it better next time.

Steve McClaren, though, was delighted with the reaction of his players, who fought back in a way that few would have expected.

“Half-time was a big test for this team,” he said. “The players were terrific at half-time, the dressing room was so vocal, there was such a determination among them not to lead down the normal path of losing the game. The response was fantastic and we deserved the win.”

Even before the climactic fight-back, Newcastle had worked hard just to stay in the game.

Just two weeks ago they lost 5-1 at Selhurst Park, giving one of the worst performances of this Premier League season. Here, though, they defended with commitment and intelligence. Fabricio Coloccini and Chancel Mbemba did not give Harry Kane an inch. Georginio Wijnaldum and Moussa Sissoko were indefatigable on the flanks. If Spurs were expecting Newcastle to collapse, looking to historical precedent, they would have been disappointed.

Newcastle made opportunities on the break in the second half, but Papiss Cisse could only head straight at Hugo Lloris when he met Sissoko’s cross. It was only when McClaren replaced Cisse and Siem de Jong with Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez that they had the quality to win.

After Danny Rose blocked a Daryl Janmaat cross with his hands, Jack Colback whipped the free-kick into the box. Coloccini won the first ball, Mbemba the second, and Mitrovic, within seconds of coming on, bundled the ball over the line.

The mood was transformed and Newcastle looked like scoring from every attack. Twice Sissoko flashed dangerous crosses into the box which were not quite turned in. Jan Vertonghen had to stretch to deny Perez. But in added time a simple move was enough. Wijnaldum chipped the ball forward, Mitrovic flicked it on and Perez beat Lloris at his near post.

Mitrovic and Perez had won the game for Newcastle from the bench. If McClaren was looking for commitment from his players then he found some here. “All you ask from players is a response,” he said of that talented pair. “They were disappointed, came on, and won the game for us. This will do them, and the team, a world of good.”

This was Newcastle’s first win from a losing position for almost a year. It was their first consecutive league win for more than a year, back when Alan Pardew was in charge. To say that winning like this, from behind, away from home, against quality opposition is unusual for Newcastle is an understatement. McClaren’s challenge is to make this the new normal.

“After we beat Liverpool, we said that’s what we are, that’s what we want to be,” McClaren said. “Today, that’s what we are, that’s what we want to be. We want to be this every week.”