In the battle of the former Bournemouth managers, neither Eddie Howe nor Gary O’Neil could prevail. A full-blooded contest contained much high-end flair but too many reminders that VAR serves to incite criticism and pressure on referees rather than make their life easier.
Anthony Taylor, the referee, delivered a series of debatable – and unpopular – decisions, including the penalty from which Callum Wilson scored his and Newcastle’s second. Taylor departed the scene to boos from home fans who had jeered his every subsequent decision; Stockley Park had taken an age to back his call. The longer the video-room deliberation, the more suspicious the paying public become.
Wolves, fired by injustice, eventually found their deserved equaliser through the effervescent Hwang Hee-chan just as Newcastle looked likely to shake off a post-Champions League hangover and an in-form, dangerous opponent.
With Sandro Tonali’s worldwide gambling ban confirmed by Fifa, Howe’s selection was limited. His squad are feeling the burn of playing Champions League football. Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak’s injuries against Borussia Dortmund, added to Sven Botman’s continuing absence, gave a well-resourced squad a look of near bare bones.
O’Neil, having revealed the secrets of his success in last week’s vindicating victory over Bournemouth on Monday Night Football, had selected Nélson Semedo and Mario Lemina on their returns from suspension. Amid the mizzle of Molineux, Newcastle, in fetching Saudi Arabian green, began with purpose only for Pedro Neto, Wolves’ maestro, to give an early indication of his danger in blazing past a toiling Dan Burn.
Hwang, attempting to match the early-season goalscoring feats of Derek Dougan 50 years ago, was similarly lively but Sean Longstaff produced the first shot in earnest, dragging the ball wide. O’Neil’s team pressed up as high up as possible, playing Howe’s men at something of their own game, with both teams committing heavy numbers forward to hunting down the ball.
Wolves’ press produced an uncharacteristic error from Kieran Trippier from which Hwang and Matheus Cunha exchanged passes when a snap shot on Nick Pope’s goal might have been a better option. Instead, he made a regulation save from Cunha, and Wolves were doubly punished when José Sá, almost immediately afterwards, dropped Anthony Gordon’s cross into the path of Callum Wilson, who gobbled up the chance to pass Shola Ameobi and Andy Cole in the table of Newcastle Premier League goalscorers. A VAR check only proved that the unfortunate Sá had collided with his teammate Traoré.
When Pope made a fine, full-length stop after a rampaging solo run from Cunha, Sá’s error came into yet sharper focus. Still, in a first half full of adventurous attacking and seat-of-the-pants defending, Lemina’s header, from Neto’s corner, was just reward for Wolves. Neto thus passed Trippier in the Premier League assists charts, and the England defender was again culpable, letting his man go to nod in.
Hwang was the next to make an error, with a challenge on Fabian Schär leading to the referee awarding a penalty, but there was an interminable wait for the VAR review. The Korean looked to have kicked the ground first rather than the Newcastle defender and yet Wilson had a chance to score his second from the spot. Sá’s chance for redemption came and went when getting a hand to Wilson’s shot, though not enough.
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At half-time, the concourses were grumbling; a VAR claim for a possible Bruno Guimarães handball had been waved away to a wild-eyed O’Neil’s visible displeasure. The Premier League’s morality was being called into question by a chanting Jack Hayward Stand.
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Tommy Doyle’s passing ability was introduced in place of Traoré as Wolves sought a way back. Trippier looked lucky to escape a booking for a clear foul on a galloping Cunha as the home howls of outrage continued. “If that was us, you’d send him off,” they then sang after Hwang’s run was blocked by Jamaal Lascelles. Discontent was soon converted to joy as Hwang slalomed past Burn and slotted the equaliser after fine support play by Toti.
The end-to-end fare continued, Schär flashing a header wide from Trippier’s cross after O’Neil had introduced Sasa Kalajdzic, the giant Serb asking different questions of the Newcastle defence. His impressive takedown of a long ball caused panic in the Newcastle area but, despite the exhortations of their frantic, sodden managers, neither team could find their winner.
