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Darlow Dissects "Crazy" Victory
Written by Newcastle Utd
Goalkeeper Karl Darlow spoke to nufc.co.uk about United's final-day victory over Tottenham
By Dominic Scurr
Newcastle United goalkeeper Karl Darlow was pleased to end a disappointing season with a 5-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in-front of a packed St. James' Park on Sunday.
Georginio Wijnaldum and Aleksandar Mitrovic put the Magpies two up at half-time before Erik Lamela pulled one back for Spurs on the hour mark.
United were reduced to ten men after Mitrovic was shown a red card for a challenge on Kyle Walker, but they proceeded to score three more, as Wijnaldum grabbed his second from the penalty spot before Rolando Aarons and Daryl Janmaat rounded off an unlikely victory for the hosts.
And Darlow admitted he is still trying to fathom how events unfolded.
"It was a crazy game," the stopper told nufc.co.uk.
"You saw from the performance how much quality we can show on our day. Unfortunately, we haven't shown it enough this season but to go out with a victory like that against such a good team like Tottenham, is brilliant.
"I couldn't really believe it. We were down to ten men and ahead by a goal for the last 20 minutes and I was expecting a really difficult end to the game.
"You expect us just to sit back and avoid conceding again but we played Spurs on the counter attack ruthlessly and we got our reward.
"It's a weird feeling having won 5-1 but still being disappointed and frustrated, because it makes you question why we haven't clicked like that more often."
Darlow went into the game having kept back-to-back clean sheets, and was disappointed not to end the season with another shut-out as he was rarely tested by a normally-potent Tottenham attack.
When called into action, however, Darlow produced a strong save to keep out Christian Eriksen's close range strike just before half-time.
A similar effort from Lamela found its way into the net but the United stopper was still happy to be on the winning side.
"I would have loved to have kept another clean sheet so it's a bit disappointing," Darlow continued.
"At the end of the day we've won 5-1 so I can't beat myself up too much because it's a good way to end the season and hopefully it sets us up for a strong start to next season.
"It's a shame to be relegated - it was just too little, too late in the end. We have put a good run of games together and gone six unbeaten so it's even more disappointing to go down like this.
"But there's nothing we can do about it now, we just need to look ahead and build for next season."