Newcastle United have gotten off with a solid start as they put up a valiant effort against Aston Villa to hold the opponents down to a 3-3 draw at Philadelphia on Sunday evening, kicking off their Premier League Summer Series tournament with a motivating performance. The two teams are part of six top-flight English clubs involved in nine matches across five east coast states during their American visit.
Newcastle have had a sublime run so far in the season having beaten Gateshead 3-2 in a friendly, followed by a small trip to Scotland that yielded a 2-1 victory over Rangers in Allan McGregor’s testimonial. On the other hand, Aston Villa was looking for a more improved showing having settled to a 1-1 draw with League Two side Walsall.
Aston Villa went quick fire in the match, scoring the opening goal with just 7 minutes on the clock. Ollie Watkins converted a sublime pass from __ to beat the Newcastle goalie, giving his side the early lead in the match. The celebrations got doubled as the goal was quickly followed up by another one by Emi Buendia in the 11th minute. By 12 minutes, Aston was leading comfortably with a 2-0 scoreline.
Newcastle United shifted gears quickly and went into an attacking mode, with Elliot Anderson eventually breaking through the Aston defense line to score the team’s first goal in the 28th minute. With 3 minutes of stoppage time added, Alexander Isak made quick work of the ball and netted the equalizer at 45+2 minutes to bring the scores to par. The first half eventually ended with both teams leveled at two goals each.
Just three minutes into the second half, Aston Villa broke past the tie as Buendia scored his second goal of the evening and the third for the team, taking the team ahead of Newcastle United by a 3-2 margin. However, it only took Newcastle about seven minutes to get the score back to level when Callum Wilson scored the equalizer in the 55th minute.
Aston fans were clearly in dismay as their side let an imminent victory slip out of their hands due to some sloppy defense work in the second half. The match thereon remained equally paced as both teams tried to find the golden opportunity to score the decisive goal, but that didn’t happen as the referee eventually blew the whistle with both teams tied at 3-3.
To sum it all up, it was undeniably Newcastle United’s night who valiantly fought back into the match to avoid an almost certain defeat. Buendia did put in his best effort with a double for Aston Villa, but it just wasn’t enough. Newcastle hence, continue with their decent run for now, while Aston still needs to regroup and get back to winning ways!
