Eddie Howe was torn between elation and relief after one of the games of the season, but his decisive penalty for Kalvin Phillips as West Ham lost 3-1 to 4-3 at Newcastle. “It was a disappointing result,” coach David Moyes lamented. ”About the judge’s decision.
Harvey Barnes scored two goals in the final minute to score the winner. “This was one of the craziest games I’ve played in,” he said after reviving Newcastle’s hopes of securing European qualification.
“It’s one of those days you’ll remember for a long time. We value team spirit and it was on full display. We never give up.”
Howe said: “It was a great advertisement for the Premier League. We were 3-1 down and it looked like a very difficult phase of our season, but the players kept their cool. They were great professionals. This is an incredible victory for us.”
Barnes spent most of the season sidelined with a foot injury after joining from Leicester for £38m last summer, but the winger has finally been able to prove his worth. “Harvey is a goalscorer,” Howe said. “He had a very difficult start to his career at Newcastle with injuries, but he was definitely of great quality and scored two great goals.
“It gives us renewed confidence and hope. We feel we still have a chance to achieve something this season. If we had lost, it would have been difficult to do it. But when you’re following the game you want chaos and we definitely had that.”
Mr. Moïse was rather depressed. “I was gutted. I felt this was a terrible defeat,” said the West Ham manager. “We did a lot of good things and were a threat, but we didn’t defend well enough. I don’t think you can say we were in control at 3-1.”
I didn’t like to see Anthony Gordon win with two penalties from Alexander Isak, but the England winger was particularly strong on the second one, which was caught by substitute Phillips. “Gordon limited Kalvin Phillips from kicking the ball,” Moyes said. “That was the wrong decision. The player actually puts his foot in a position to be kicked.
“We were treated incredibly poorly by the referees. It was a day of very few decisions for us.
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“Anthony Gordon got his legs up because obviously Kalvin Phillips is looking forward. He’s just trying to clear the ball. [Gordon] put his feet in front of it and he [Phillips] kick the sole of his foot. You have to decide how you want to look at it.
“The margins are small. We lost games we should have won. This is a difficult place to come to and we didn’t get the job done. Newcastle have a very good team. We have some good offensive players, but we weren’t tough enough. We need to play harder.”
