Tottenham 1-1 Newcastle United: Unlikely heroes emerge as Magpies beat Spurs on penalties

Mark Gillespie proved to be Newcastle United's unlikely hero in Melbourne after saving a crucial kick in a penalty shoot-out to win their friendly clash Down Under.

The fourth choice keeper made a save to deny Bryan Gil with Newcastle successful with all five of their kicks with Garang Kuol and Harrison Ashby among the scorers. The game could not be decided in 90 minutes despite numerous openings but by the end, Eddie Howe's team contained a host of youngsters and some soon to be released players.

The game kicked off with the temperature at 13 degrees in Melbourne with the match starting at 8pm local time in 90% humidity. It had been a fantastic day of sunshine in the build-up to the match with Newcastle fans enjoying the pre-game atmosphere and turning out in force from across Australia and around the glove.

The first chance of the night fell for Spurs after a poor clearance from Emil Krafth went straight into the path of Son Heung-min but he wasted the opportunity. Son's shot struck the hands of Krafth but Tottenham's penalty appeals were waved away by referee Alireza Faghani.

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Alexander Isak had an early sight of goal but sent his shot high over the top. On seven minutes Kieran Trippier played in Miguel Almiron but he overthought the opening and was eventually closed down before Spurs cleared their lines.

The game reached the mid-way stage of the first half with the scores tied at 0-0 and neither side managing a shot on target. Spurs wanted a penalty when Son rounded Trippier and his former team-mate's bodycheck left him floored.

But the ref waved play on and with no VAR in operation there was no penalty check. As the replay was screened Spurs fans groaned and Newcastle supporters had a laugh knowing it might well have been a spot-kick in the Premier League!

A deflected effort from Son was gathered by Nick Pope for the game's first shot on target with half an hour gone. But the lead would not be far from coming and after Spurs had just edged possession at 54% it was not against the run of play.

Although, it might not have been given had VAR been in use. Pope's clearance fell straight for Maddison on the edge of the box. Despite appearing to pat it down, Maddison jinked his way easily around Krafth, who was sat down by the ex-Leicester man, and then thumped it into the back of the net despite Dan Burn's best efforts to block.

Howe made a substitution on 37 minutes when replacing Trippier with Jacob Murphy after the England full-back took a whack on his ankle and was taken off as a precaution.

Son rolled a pass to Brennan Johnson inside the area on 40 minutes but Pope made a fine block from close range. But Newcastle did go in level at the break after Bruno rolled the ball to sub Murphy down the right and his effort was blocked Brandon Austin.

Isak followed up and put himself in the right place at the right time to make it 1-1. The Magpies made a couple of changes at the break with Joe White replacing Joelinton and Callum Wilson coming on for Isak.

The first half started with a good opportunity for Harvey Barnes but he sent it wide of the target but Newcastle were the better of the two sides early on after the restart. Although, both Bruno and Anderson had chances but failed to take them with jetlag starting to creep in perhaps.

Newcastle made a trio of changes as Amadou Diallo, Harrison Ashby and Alex Murphy replaced Barnes, Burn and Almiron. There was a huge standing ovation as Australia international Garang Kuol, just 19, came on for Wilson.

Howe also replaced Bruno with Lucas De Bolle as the team that finished the game looked very different to the star-studded opening line-up. More changes followed shortly as the game descended into a real stop-start affair as Travis Hernes, Ciaran Thompson and Dylan Charlton got minutes in the closing stages.

Murphy played in Diallo down the left with a great ball and the former West Ham youngster was pulled back in the box by Oliver Skipp, but again the referee not interested in pointing to the spot. With eight minutes to go Spurs had a chance to go ahead but Jamie Donley drilled it wide of the target.

Newcastle threw on back-up keeper Mark Gillespie for a rare outing in the closing stages with Ben Parkinson also getting an opportunity. And so this friendly contest was decided by a penalty shoot out as the strong Australian crowd got dollar for dollar value.

Tale of the tape - how the penalties unfolded.

Bryan Gil 0-0 (Saved by Gillespie)

Joe White 1-0 (White rolls it home and sends keeper Alfie Whiteman the wrong way)

Scarlett slots home 1-1 (Got it underneath Gillespie to level)

Parkinson makes it 2-1 (A confident kick to put United ahead)

Donley 2-2 (Hauled Spurs level)

Diallo 3-2 (Found the corner)

Black 3-3 (Beat Gillespie low to his left)

Kuol 4-3 (Kept his nerve)

Skipp 4-4 (Kept his team alive)

Ashby 5-4 (A confident kick to win the shoot out).

Referee: Alireza Faghani (Iran)

Attendance: 78,419