Newcastle United will ‘breath a sigh of relief’ after controversial incident in West Ham draw

Former Newcastle United winger Darren Ambrose believes the Magpies will have ‘breathed a sigh of relief’ when Bruno Guimaraes avoided a red card in Sunday’s draw at West Ham United.

The Brazil international was shown a yellow card just before the midway point of the first-half at the London Stadium and was fortunate not to receive a second just 60 second later for a mistimed challenge on Hammers midfielder James Ward-Prowse.

Ambrose, who made 56 appearances during a two-year stay at St James Park between 2003 and 2005, believes Hammers manager David Moyes will be left unhappy with the decision as his side snatched a late draw thanks to a Mohammed Kudus equaliser.

“I think even Newcastle supporters will have breathed a sigh of relief when they saw it back,” Ambrose told Sky Sports.

“He (Guimaraes) certainly was, you see the reaction, the panic in his eyes when he gave away that second foul, which was a minute after the first. It was on James Ward-Prowse, he nicked in front of him, it was cynical and it should have been a yellow card.

“It was the story of the referee today as well as how the match was, it was just inconsistent. It will be a talking point, I am sure David Moyes will want to talk about it.”

It was West Ham that enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges and they grabbed the lead with a goal from Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek with just eight minutes on the clock. Their advantage remained in place until half-time but a much-improved second-half display from the Magpies looked to have taken Eddie Howe’s side to all three points.

Alexander Isak got his side back on level-terms just before the hour-mark before converting from a sumptuous cross from Kieran Trippier cross minutes later to turn the game on its head. However, Newcastle would have to settle for a point after Kudus grabbed a equaliser in the final minute and Ambrose insisted a draw will be viewed as a positive result for his old club despite their late disappointment.

He explained: “I think before the game, if you’re Newcastle, you’d think you’d take a point because they’re in good form.

“You’re on a bit of a high after PSG, you’d say a point away at West Ham is a good result. I think they did dominate the game, there’s two styles, and they dominated possession, played through the midfield and tried to build from the back.

“Whereas West Ham are quite direct, playing up towards Antonio, and towards the end they really put the pressure on. Once Newcastle went 2-1 up, they brought on Mohamed Kudus and put the pressure on in the last ten minutes.

“The equaliser was deserved and then Jarrod Bowen almost scored to give West Ham a late winner but Nick Pope kept him out – but all in all, I think both managers will be relatively pleased.”