A late Jacob Murphy free-kick was enough to snatch a point for Newcastle United in Sunday evening’s 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Raul Jimenez’s fine 80th-minute strike looked to have condemned the Magpies to two successive defeats before Murphy’s set-piece leveller on 89 minutes.
The result leaves Newcastle in 14th place with eight points from six games ahead of Sunday’s home clash with leaders Everton.
Here is what the national media thought of Newcastle’s draw with Wolves.
Jamie Jackson, The Guardian - Draw ‘a touch unfair’ on Wolves
After 80 minutes that felt like a slog deep in midwinter rather than Premier League game No 6, Wolves and Newcastle awoke. Raul Jimenez’s strike from a poorly cleared Pedro Neto free-kick seemed to have made it a third consecutive 1-0 win for Wolves, only for Jacob Murphy to rewrite the script.
Steve Bruce’s side had barely moved beyond the centre circle in the second half. Yet after claiming a free-kick to the left of Wolves’ area, up stepped Murphy to curl the ball around the wall and past Rui Patricio’s fingertips for the equaliser.
If this was a touch unfair on Wolves they have to accept some culpability for taking the match to Newcastle only sporadically.
Craig Hope, The Daily Mail - Bruce’s selection brings up same old questions
Murphy's intervention salvaged a much-needed point for Steve Bruce after another week of tactical scrutiny following Newcastle's 4-1 home defeat by Manchester United.
Bruce's selection - showing four changes and a fifth formation of the season - felt like a spin of the wheel. But the Magpies boss keeps landing on the same numbers - the ones where his side have little possession and few shots on goal but cede plenty to the opposition.
Bruce fielded four wingers here but none of them were posted on the wing. Perhaps the randomness of it all threw Wolves who, while starting brightly and registering four shots inside 15 minutes, ran out of ideas very quickly.
Mike McGrath, The Telegraph - Goal lovely moment for Murphy after uncertain summer
Jacob Murphy spent most of this match in a Newcastle defence resembling a barcode across the Molineux pitch, before a moment of quick-thinking earned his team a point completely against the odds.
Steve Bruce will not mind his team being difficult to watch at times, with Murphy among five at the back and three midfielders protecting them. Bruce will be judged on results this season and this was a draw at the home of a team with ambitions of qualifying for Europe.
His team looked like they were heading to a narrow defeat when Raúl Jiménez finally made the breakthrough with a volley that found the top corner. But with one minute left on the clock Murphy spotted Wolves wall poorly set up and curled a free-kick into the near post, catching Rui Patricio off-guard.
It was the fourth straight 1-1 draw between these two and a lovely moment for Murphy as his future looked uncertain over the summer, with his place in Bruce’s 25-man squad by no means guaranteed. He has forced his way into his manager’s plans with hard work on the training ground, not least on the set-pieces he was practicing on Thursday after regular training.
He was part of a defensive formation that was put together out of necessity over design, given the injuries that have impacted his squad. They had also taken a hammering last week against Manchester United and his patched-up team managed to get something from this game. Bruce had a winger as a defensive midfielder and forwards in midfield.
Tim Oscroft, BBC Sport - Hard-working Newcastle subdue Wolves threat
A heavy defeat to Manchester United last time out, combined with illness and injuries affecting his squad, saw Steve Bruce make four changes to his starting line-up.
Jonjo Shelvey's groin problem and an illness affecting Sean Longstaff resulted in a redrawn side with an attacking edge, and included Ryan Fraser making his first Premier League start since his transfer from Bournemouth.
But for all their potential threat going forward, Newcastle worked hard without the ball for much of the match and Wolves' main threats came from shots a long way from goal.
Fraser and his former Bournemouth team-mate Callum Wilson lined up alongside each other for the first time this season, while Murphy, who spent last season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, made his first Premier League start since December 2018.
The 25-year-old Murphy, named at wing-back, took his chance with a clever free-kick that just squeezed in to give Newcastle a point from a match that they were never quite out of despite spending so much of it on the back foot.
