Bruno Guimaraes’ sublime second-half strike helped Newcastle United to a 3-2 victory against Nottingham Forest in a lively Premier League encounter.
Forest twice fought back from behind with Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi cancelling out goals from Guimaraes and Fabian Schar.
But Guimaraes secured the three points for the visitors with a brilliant finish in the 66th minute.
Defeat for Forest leaves them just two points clear of the relegation zone.
After a dramatic 4-4 draw against Luton Town the previous weekend, Eddie Howe’s side played out another thrilling game at the City Ground – this time coming out on top to move up to seventh in the Premier League standings.
Newcastle pulled off a clever short corner routine to go ahead in the 10th minute, with Kieran Tripper whipping a fierce ball to the back post where Guimaraes had timed his arrival to perfection to poke home the volley.
The atmosphere around the stadium improved drastically when Morgan Gibbs-White threaded a well-weighted ball through the centre of the pitch and Elanga outpaced Newcastle’s defenders to slot it past Martin Dubravka.
In a first half full of momentum shifts, Newcastle restored their lead as Schar met Sven Botman’s header on the half-volley, firing it back across goal and into the bottom left corner.
Again Forest responded, with Hudson-Odoi’s strike from 20 yards out taking a big deflection off Lewis Miley to wrong-foot Dubravka.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side may feel hard done by after referee Anthony Taylor waved away two penalty appeals, first for a light shove on Elanga by Anthony Gordon and then for Dubravka’s outstretched arms bringing down Taiwo Awoniyi.
Forest pushed forward in search of a third equaliser, but a lack of a clinical finisher in front of goal cost them as they failed to make a single shot on target in the second half.
Guimaraes shines to save Newcastle
One moment of brilliance from Guimaraes proved the difference for Newcastle and he was met with a huge roar from the away fans after full-time.
The Brazilian made a clever run into the box for his first, and he showed the same footballing intelligence for the winning goal – latching on to a loose pass from Elanga before looking up and perfectly picking out his spot in the Forest net.
However, concerns will remain for Howe over his side’s defensive record, having failed to keep a clean sheet since before Christmas.
The Newcastle boss was forced to defend Dan Burn earlier in the week, calling him “Newcastle through and through” after he came under scrutiny for his performance against Luton.
Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey and Luton’s Chiedozie Ogbene tormented the defender for speed in Newcastle’s last two league outings and Elanga was able to target the same weakness here, peeling away from Burn for Forest’s first equaliser.
