Newcastle United on Sunday leapt out of the relegation zone and even displaced Chelsea to place 15th on the Barclays Premier League table.
Thanks for their second half heroics at White Hart Lane, where they came back from behind to snatch the full three points from their hosts.
Eric Dier had opened scoring for Tottenham in the 39th minute, but in the second half, Newcastle turned the table, spinning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win as Coach Steve McClaren secured his first back-to-back BPL wins since arriving at St. James’ Park.
Aleksandar Mitrovic first struck in the 74th minute to even out Dier’s goal.
Then in four minutes of stoppage time, a determined Newcastle side worked the ball through to Ayoze Prez, who brought it under control and fired home from an angle off Hugo Lloris, who might well feel that he should have done better. Newcastle even might have made it three goals if Sissoko’s earlier cross had not gone six yards wide.
The huge victory for Newcastle means they are out of the relegation zone, leaving Norwich to drop in and Chelsea also perilously perching nearby with just one point ahead of the bottom-league teams.
The victory also meant Tottenham’s long unbeaten run came to an end.
It was a day of drama too in Anfield where Liverpool hosted West Brom Albion. West Brom were almost running away with the full three points, leading 2-1, but a stoppage time goal by Liverpool’s Divock Origi, who came on from the bench, grabbed the equaliser .
Jordan Henderson had scored the first goal for Liverpool in the 21st minute. But West Brom Craig Dawson netted the equaliser nine minutes after.
And in the second half, Jonas Olsson shot West Brom ahead, raising anxiety at the Liverpool camp. But substitute Origi did the magic as he cut in from the left, beating a man before seeing his long-distance hit take a wicked deflection that sent it into the bottom corner. The Liverpool camp was simply ecstatic. What a finish!
Tony Pulis, West Brom manager blamed bad-luck for their 11th hour misfortune.
“Their second goal was deflected – if it’s well worked you hold your hands up, but when it’s a deflection that’s the little bit of bad luck you don’t need when coming to a ground like this”, he said.
For Spurs boss, Mauricio Pochettino who lamented their loss in stoppage time, the experience was all part of the unpredictability of football.
“I think our first half was fantastic – we dominated the game. The second is not easy to explain. We made mistakes and we feel very disappointed now because we did not deserve to lose. But that is football, and you need to compete over 95 minutes. Today was difficult.”