Newcastle 2-0 Liverpool: Title challenge over

Newcastle head coach Steve McClaren heaved a huge sigh of relief after seeing his team breathe new life into their season with a priceless 2-0 Barclays Premier league victory over Liverpool.

The duo had not played out a 0-0 draw since 1974, yet one would be forgiven for thinking that could have been the scoreline after a drab first half, with neither side managing a shot on target.

Yet the Reds found themselves a goal down on 69 minutes as Dutchman Georginio Wijnaldum crossed in from the right as Martin Skrtel tried to dive in to block the effort, yet could only divert the ball into the back of his own net.

Wijnaldum, who scored four when Newcastle beat Norwich City on home turf earlier in the campaign, made sure of the points in stoppage time as Jurgen Klopp’s team streamed forwards in search of a late leveller.

Wijnaldum saw a 55th-minute shot deflected wide after good work by Sissoko and Jack Colback, but the visitors responded in kind with Ibe running at the home defence at will, and Klopp threw Adam Lallana and Sturridge into the mix when he replaced Benteke and Firmino with 28 minutes remaining.

Wijnaldum’s audacious 94th-minute chip over keeper Simon Mignolet did justice to Moussa Sissoko’s ideal pass and sparked mass celebrations on Tyneside. So they need to bring these two players back, we need to see how long Sturridge is fit, but I think overall, whoever is on the pitch, they have to improve their retention of the ball.

“We might not get results, but it will certainly keep the crowd with us and certainly keep the spirit and give us a chance of picking up points”.

“We’ve had a tough week in terms of looking at various things and changing personnel”, said McClaren, whose options were limited by injuries and a lack of squad depth.

“Even the supporters were growing into the game and we were gradually turning them around”. We were not creative enough, so we had no chances.

“But I knew about this”. We are not getting carried away, we have a lot of work to do.

“Klopp has eliminated those doubts and showed us how we can play good, successful football, which can also be fun at the same time”.