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Cabaye: 'I Thought I'd Won It'
Written by Newcastle Utd
Yohan Cabaye reveals he was getting ready to celebrate a last gasp winner against Aston Villa until Brad Guzan's spectacular save
By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter
Yohan Cabaye admitted that he thought he had won all three points for Newcastle with his stoppage time free-kick against Aston Villa.
But, like everyone inside the Sports Direct Arena, the Frenchman was amazed to see visiting goalkeeper Brad Guzan fling himself to his right and claw the ball away from the top corner of the Gallowgate net.
The midfielder had already seen compatriot Hatem Ben Arfa cancel out Ciaran Clark's first half header with a stunning strike on the half hour mark.
And, with almost the last kick of the game, he was left frustrated by a fantastic stop from the American, who replaced former Magpies custodian Shay Given in the Villans' starting XI on Sunday.
"I thought I was celebrating a goal," he told nufc.co.uk in an exclusive post-match interview.
"But it was a good save. I was tired and I just wanted to hit the target.
"That happened but maybe I needed a little bit more curl on the shot."
Despite coming from behind against Paul Lambert's men, Cabaye was disappointed not to make it three home wins out of three this season following the opening day success over Tottenham and Thursday's Europa League victory against Atromitos.
"One point is not enough," he insisted. "We tried to play in the first half but they pressed high up the pitch, they worked hard, and we were a little bit sloppy at times.
"So to be 1-0 down at half-time was the right score because we missed a little bit of quality and energy in the first half.
"But in the second half we tried to keep the pressure on them and we came back into the game. Hatem scored and we had one or two chances to get the second goal but we missed them.
"So we have to keep working and to keep the right mentality on the pitch to keep doing well."