It was billed as the biggest game in Newcastle United’s recent history, defeat did not even bare thinking about for the 19th placed Magpies, however, on a balmy autumn afternoon at Carrow Road Rafael Benitez’s side were all but condemned to a fate in the Championship by Martin Olsson’s injury time winner.
The defeat was inflicted in the cruellest of manners, but, in truth, Newcastle were largely outplayed and outfought by their assiduous relegation rivals, who simply wanted it more than their lily-livered opponents on the day.
Despite being second best in almost every department for a majority of the game, substitute Aleksandar Mitrovic’s unlikely second half brace dragged Newcastle from behind on two separate occasions and took them within moments of securing an ill-deserved away point until Olsson struck deep into stoppage time to shatter the Magpies’ faint survival hopes.
The United board may have invested for the first time in many years over the course of the 2015/16 campaign, but, reprehensibly, it has been in all the wrong areas, and their shameful failure to strengthen the side’s appalling defensive ranks paved the way for Norwich to grab a precious three points that pulls them six points ahead of the Magpies with just a slither of the season remaining.
All of the Canaries’ goals arrived through pieces of utterly abject defending and, had it not been for several smart Karl Darlow saves in the opening 45 minutes, they could have put the game to bed before Mike Dean blew for half time.
They say that a bad craftsman blames his tools, but even Rafael Benitez, one of the finest managers in European football, cannot work miracles with the apathetic, heartless bunch of mercenaries he inherited from Steve McClaren last month.
There was an unequivocal feeling that this was the afternoon where Newcastle United waved goodbye to Premier League football for the second time in seven years, and under this regime, with this cowardly bunch of players representing them on the field, they may not return for a very long time.
Here’s how the Newcastle players rated during the harrowing 3-2 defeat: