Jacob Ramsey fired Newcastle United to a rare away win to give head coach Eddie Howe a timely boost and keep the pressure on Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank.
Both bosses had to field questions about their positions in the build-up to this crunch Premier League game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium following a poor run of results.
Frank did not hide the fact his injury-hit side were “desperate” for their first league victory of 2026 while Howe, similarly, called on his players to show “our feeling of how important this is to us” after a run of just one win in eight games in all competitions.
It was Howe’s team who delivered for their manager on a night a section of Spurs supporters chanted “You’re getting sacked in the morning” in Frank’s direction as chief executive Vinai Venkatesham watched on.
Newcastle, who lined up without a recognised striker, took the lead through an unlikely scorer in defender Malick Thiaw in first-half stoppage time.
Guglielmo Vicario managed to parry Thiaw’s initial header from Anthony Elanga’s cross, but the Newcastle centre-back was quickest to react and got there ahead of Pape Matar Sarr and Archie Gray to stab the ball into the net and send the away end into raptures.
Spurs, to their credit, briefly rallied after the break and the hosts drew level from their first corner of the night when Xavi Simons’ delivery was headed back across goal by Sarr and Gray hooked the ball into the net.
Frank punched the air on the touchline as the stadium erupted around him, but Spurs were not level for long.
Anthony Gordon danced his way into the box and fed Ramsey, who picked out the bottom corner with a clever first-time finish to score his maiden goal for the club following his summer move from Aston Villa.
Newcastle held out to win just their third league game on the road this season and move up to 10th, while Spurs slip to 16th.
