Newcastle mustered a third straight victory on Monday night by beating a despondent Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor.
It might very well have been three for the Toon but Matt Ritchie put paid to all that by missing a gilt-edged, two-yard tap-in early in the second half…
Abject. Everything was in Ritchie’s favour – time, angle and speed of approach, etc – and he still fluffed it. No wonder he hasn’t scored for Newcastle since last April.
Having previously taken just three points from a possible 30 in a hopeless 10-match winless run, Rafa Benitez and the chaps are now nine from nine and rising up the lower recesses of the table into 12th place.
Burnley are 17th, shipping goals (it took them until late March to concede 27 goals last season) and just one point above the drop zone.