Matty Longstaff stole all the headlines in Newcastle’s win over Manchester United on Sunday, and gave a fantastic post-game interview with his brother Sean on Sky Sports.
During the interview, Matty described the shot for his winning goal as a “hit and hope” effort, but it was a superb drive, and thankfully nestled into the bottom corner.
Nobody in the crowd thought the shot was a lucky one, and Jamie Redknapp agreed, when writing for his Daily Mail column.
The pundit said: “Matty insisted his strike was a ‘hit and hope’ but I’m not buying that. He knew what he was doing.
“He let the ball go across his body, waited for the right moment, hit his shot pure and it sealed a super win over Manchester United. It repaid Steve Bruce’s faith in him.”
Matty Longstaff got the praise for the goal but others also deserve credit
It was a tremendous goal, and it saw the more junior of the two Longstaffs rightly pick up all the plaudits afterwards. But the build up to the goal was equally brilliant.
Allan Saint-Maximin – a revelation on the counter-attack – showed fantastic pace and control, before picking out the advancing Jetro Willems with a great through-ball.
Then Willems jinked back and forth to take the defender out of the game, before laying it off perfectly for Matty to finish.
It was a great goal in every aspect, and Matty Longstaff can soak it all up today, as the realisation of what he achieved sinks in.
Certainly the fans will now be clamouring for more from the youngster, and he will have some pressure to deal with, as he will be expected to perform at that level every week now.
But if he can emulate his older brother from last season, there is no reason why he cannot build from the platform he has now given himself.
Certainly Steve Bruce and the supporters on Tyneside will hope he can.
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