Newcastle 2-0 West Ham: Jonas Gutierrez completes the greatest comeback as his late strike secures Premier League safety

Newcastle will be in the Premier League next season after they secured a 2-0 victory over West Ham on Sunday
Moussa Sissoko opened the scoring for the hosts in the 54th minute after he converted a Jonas Gutierrez cross
Gutierrez then doubled Newcastle’s tally in the latter stages in front of a delighted St James’ Park crowd
Hull City meanwhile, will be playing Championship football next term despite a 0-0 draw against Manchester United

Published:
15:51 GMT, 24 May 2015

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Updated:
00:39 GMT, 25 May 2015

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If there is one Newcastle player who deserves to survive in the top flight after this season from hell, it is Jonas Gutierrez.

He was having chemotherapy as recently as October, twice having beaten testicular cancer. In January, he was allowed to return home to Argentina for talks with Velez Sarsfield over a move which would have ended his seven-year stay at St James’ Park.

How relieved owner Mike Ashley must be that the deal failed to materialise. The 31-year-old returned to Tyneside, seemingly to see out the season in the reserves.

Jonas Gutierrez, playing in his final game for Newcastle, celebrates his goal which secured their Premier League survival

Newcastle manager John Carver leads the celebrations as he runs to congratulate Gutierrez after his strike in the closing stages

Gutierrez – the cancer survivor who was undergoing chemotherapy as recently as October – celebrates with Head Coach John Carver

Gutierrez, mobbed by his Newcastle team-mates, celebrates what is likely to be his last goal for the club

Jonas Gutierrez scored the second goal of the game in the closing stages of Newcastle’s match against West Ham on Sunday afternoon

But he signed off as the saviour on Sunday. In what was the most inspirational individual performance of their sorry season, Gutierrez displayed the characteristics all too lacking among his comrades this term — courage, pride, energy and endeavour.

He created the opener and scored the goal which sealed survival. Even during his celebration he still had more zest to outsprint his team-mates and, like a bare-chested warrior, confronted the hierarchy who last season told him to find another club, cocking his ear towards a directors’ box including Ashley and managing director Lee Charnley. The Toon Army roared their approval.

The midweek message from the Magpies was that avoiding relegation was no cause for celebration. In the end, such was the fear of what would have been a deserved demotion, players, staff and supporters greeted the full-time whistle as if they had won the Premier League, not merely renewed their membership of it.

Head coach John Carver said afterwards that he still wanted the job going into next season. But surely Ashley has been scarred as well as scared by events of 2015? It wasn’t supposed to come to this, a final-day rescue act. Carver inherited a team in 10th but ended up presiding over the club’s worst run of results in 38 years. A decision on his future will be made this week, but with his reputation in part salvaged, perhaps it is time to move on, for the best of both parties.

Newcastle midfielder Moussa Sissoko rises highest to meet Jonas Gutierrez’s left-wing cross with a powerful header after 54 minutes

The 25-year-old Frenchman celebrates his second-half header in front of an ecstatic St James’ Park

Sissoko takes off his shirt as he is unable to control his emotions following his vital goal for the relegation-threatened team

Sissoko is mobbed by his Newcastle team-mates as he charges towards the home bench and manager John Carver (right)

MATCH FACTS, PLAYER RATINGS, LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE

Newcastle (4-4-2): Krul 6.5; Janmaat 8, Williamson 6.5, Coloccini 6.5, Dummett 7; Sissoko 7, Colback 6.5, Anita 7 (Gouffran 89), Gutierrez 9; Cisse 5.5, Riviere 5

Subs not used: Ryan Taylor, De Jong, Perez, Cabella, Ameobi, Woodman.

Goals: Sissoko 54, Gutierrez 86

Bookings: Sissoko, Gutierrez

West Ham (4-3-1-2): Adrian 6; Jenkinson 6, Reid 6, Burke 6 (Tomkins 69, 6), Cresswell 7; Kouyate 5.5 (Lee 77, 6), Song 5.5, Nolan 6; Downing 6.5; Valencia 5 (Amalfitano 62, 5.5), Cole 5

Subs not used: Tomkins, Jarvis, Nene, O’Brien, Jaaskelainen

Bookings: Amalfitano

Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)

Attendance: 52, 094

Man of the match: Jonas Gutierrez

Moussa Sissoko scored the opening goal to finish off a fine Newcastle move – click HERE for more from out Match Zone service

Ashley, bizarrely, chose the hour before kick-off to give an interview to TV cameras. He spoke of ambition, even of winning a trophy. Supporters did not quite know how to receive the billionaire’s soundings — a signal of change or simply a desperate attempt to pacify ahead of yet more planned protests? Only the events of this summer and beyond will provide the answer. But on Sunday it mattered not, for relegation would have rendered his words academic, laughable almost.

At least Ashley had cause to smile at the end of a frenzied afternoon, when tension was amplified by the delicacy of the scoreline at the KC Stadium.

With the first half-hour goalless at St James’, Geordies flashed phones in the face of their fellow fans, Twitter and the like revealing that Hull had seen two goals disallowed and reporting that Louis van Gaal’s United were in reverse gear — it all made for a car-crash scenario.

But whether or not they were motivated by a nervous energy the home fans rallied behind their team in what was a barely deserved show of support on the evidence of their recent efforts.

Carver later likened the atmosphere to a Champions League night. It was hard to disagree, but the quality on the field was a million miles from the continent’s premier competition, especially in the case of Emmanuel Riviere.

Sissoko’s second-half header helped to seal Newcastle’s Premier League safety on the final day of the campaign

Even under-fire owner Mike Ashley can afford a smile as Newcastle’s status in the Premier League is spared

The Newcastle squad are put through their paces at an expectant St James’ Park ahead of their match against West Ham

A willing runner, yes, but for £6million you want goals, not just graft. He had the chance to obliterate those early nerves inside 60 seconds but shot wide from inside the six-yard box. The severity of the miss was perhaps lost given the infancy of the contest.

Just two minutes after half-time Daryl Janmaat rolled into Riviere’s path but this time he swiped at fresh air. The script was beginning to centre on the forlorn Frenchman. Enter leading man Gutierrez. There was one passage which pointed to the narrative about to unfold. Receiving possession just inside West Ham’s half, he burst past two claret jerseys before feeling his heels clipped by a third. Still, he stayed on his feet, instead attempting to barge by a fourth. Atkinson intervened. St James’ rose as one in appreciation. He had set the tone.

Within minutes he had laid on the opening goal for Sissoko, landing an enticing centre on the brow of the midfielder who did the rest with a header into the bottom corner.

Five, nervous minutes remained when the Argentine collected the ball 25 yards out. Taking what seemed like a fanciful aim, his low strike was deflected beyond Adrian and into the Gallowgate net, sparking relief-induced celebration and sending the scorer on his charge for the touchline.

There, he lifted his ear towards Ashley and the club’s hierarchy. It’s high time they listened, and not just to their celebrated saviour.