NEWCASTLE SURRENDERED THE lead three times as George Boyd’s dramatic late leveller earned Burnley a 3-3 draw in a pulsating Premier League clash at St James’ Park.
Sean Dyche’s side had fought back from two goals down to take a 2-2 draw from champions Manchester City on Sunday and once again displayed their fighting spirit on Tyneside.
Newcastle had taken the lead on three occasions in the New Year’s Day encounter, only for the visitors to hit back each time.
The pre-match build-up was dominated by the absence of Newcastle manager Alan Pardew who is set to take the vacant Crystal Palace job.
Stand-in John Carver spoke about wanting to end the “chaos” and he saw his side lead at the break through goals from Steven Taylor and Jack Colback either side of a bizarre Paul Dummett own goal.
Burnley, who had to make all three changes by half-time due to injuries, hit the woodwork on four occasions, but finally levelled through Danny Ings’ header.
Moussa Sissoko thought he had won the match in the 78th minute, only for the visitors to silence the home fans when Boyd’s low drive was too fierce for Jak Alnwick to keep out.
Pardew, meanwhile, was in attendance as Crystal Palace picked up a point in a goalless draw against Aston Villa on New Year’s Day.
Pardew, who looks set to replace Neil Warnock at Selhurst Park, was in the stands with Palace chairman Steve Parish at Villa Park.
The visitors left the Midlands with a point as Villa failed to score a goal for the fourth time in five games.
Hull City boosted their Premier League survival hopes and inflicted more festive period misery upon Everton with a 2-0 win at the KC Stadium.
Ahmed Elmohamady headed Hull in front on 33 minutes and Nikica Jelavic took advantage of poor defending to score against his old club two minutes prior to the interval as Steve Bruce’s struggling side claimed just their second win in 13 games.
The Tigers move two points clear of the relegation zone after ending a run of five home matches without a win, but this latest defeat further increases the pressure on Everton, who finished with 10 men after having Antolin Alcaraz sent off late on.
Roberto Martinez’s men have endured a dreadful run of results over Christmas and New Year, with this their fourth consecutive defeat.
After finishing fifth last season, Everton are therefore now looking rather nervously over their shoulders towards the battle for the drop at the start of 2015, and nowhere has their decline been more marked than in defence.
A team that conceded only 39 goals in the whole of the last campaign have already let in 33 goals this season and have now gone 10 league games without keeping a clean sheet.
Freshly appointed West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis watched from the stands as his new club drew 1-1 at West Ham United, with Saido Berahino cancelling out Diafra Sakho’s neatly constructed 10th-minute opener.
The result kept West Brom a point above the relegation zone.
Elsewhere, substitute Wilfried Bony earned Swansea City a 1-1 draw at Queens Park Rangers, cancelling out Leroy Fer’s 20th-minute thunderbolt with a cool last-minute strike.
All today’s Premier League results can be found here
Additional reporting from © – AFP 2015
