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Are Hearts developing the habit of champions?

Andrew Petrie

BBC Sport Scotland

Heart of Midlothian v Hibernian highlights

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Another late derby win for Heart of Midlothian, another late goal that sparked jubilation around the stands at Tynecastle, another Derek McInnes celebration with a ballboy.

Tomas Magnusson’s 88th-minute strike in Tuesday’s Edinburgh derby at home to Hibernian added yet more veracity to a title charge that few would have found believable at the start of the season.

It is not the first time this campaign when they have produced a moment of magic in the last few minutes, or even dying seconds, to fuel the fires of belief among their fans.

It is the habit of champions. The ability to rescue victory from the jaws of defeat, to conjure three points from the ashes.

Celtic and Rangers have done it plenty over the years – the former did it again in the Scottish Cup at the weekend – and now Hearts are showing they can do it too.

Boy did they need it after last week’s defeat away to St Mirren and with both sides of the Old Firm improving since changing their managers.

Defeat by Hibs would have given Rangers the chance to go top when they visit Motherwell on Tuesday.

Instead, with just 12 games to go, McInnes’ side, who have been out in front since September, are six points clear of Danny Rohl’s Ibrox side as they face a difficult away trip to the side sitting fourth.

    • 3 hours ago

Evidence stacks up against Old Firm stranglehold

You only need to look at the second round of fixtures in this campaign to find the first example of Hearts digging deep and finding a late winner.

It came at Tannadice, where Stuart Findlay popped up late to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Dundee United and give McInnes’ side all three points.

They did it again at the end of August, against Livingston, when Alexandros Kyziridis scored at Almondvale to secure a 2-1 win.

Then there was Craig Halkett’s goal in the first derby of the season, a 91st-minute strike as he slid in to connect with a Sabah Kerjota cross.

It is not just goals, either. Look at Craig Gordon’s save, away to Dundee, with the team down to 10 men after fellow goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow’s red card.

Holding on at 1-0, the veteran Scotland international somehow kept Emile Acquah’s header from ripping away two precious points.

To put a statistic to it, Hearts have scored 12 goals in the last 15 minutes of league matches this season. Only one side have scored more – Rangers.

“What we’ve got in abundance is a desire to make the game go our way,” head coach McInnes said. “Harry Milne’s desire to get the ball to the byeline, Tomas Magnusson’s desire to get on the end of it. That’s what I’m talking about.

To win title ‘you have to win ugly’

The late goals are not the only habit that Hearts are forming. Winning the hard way, getting maximum points from a bare minimum performance, is something that title-winning teams do too.

“If you want to challenge for titles and win leagues, you have to win ugly, and Hearts did that tonight,” former Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew told Premier Sports.

He was not the only pundit to comment on Hearts’ below-par performance. While McInnes named an attacking side, they looked timid in the build up, struggling to stay calm in the typical chaos of an Edinburgh derby.

“They’ll not really care about the performance, they’ve got 12 games to create history,” former Hearts midfielder Ryan Stevenson, who also had a hard job picking a man of the match, told BBC Sportsound.

“Harry Milne, for me, he tried everything he possible could to affect the game, to drive Hearts forward. Other than him, pretty much all of them were stinking.”

Well, quite. Scott Allan, the former Hibs and Celtic midfielder, was a bit more eloquent in his assessment.

“Tonight was such a big game and to not play well at all… I couldn’t see Hearts scoring a goal, I thought there was only going to be one winner and it was Hibs,” he reflected.

“To win like that, clean sheet as well, it says so much about what you’re building in there.

“Derek McInnes will not be worried about that performance. What a position that puts Hearts into, going into that game on Sunday.”

Ah yes, the game on Sunday. Rangers at Ibrox. Hearts won there back in September, their first victory away to the blue half of Glasgow since 2014.

No-one could have imagined then that, the next time Hearts came to town, the visitors would still have a lead over their hosts in the standings.

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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,448

Here is where things stand on Wednesday, February 11:

Fighting

  • “Two one-year-old boys and a two-year-old girl died as a result of an enemy strike,” as well as a 34-year-old man, Syniehubov said. A 74-year-old woman was also injured, he added.
  • Russian attacks on energy infrastructure left the Lozova community in the Kharkiv region without electricity, local official Serhii Zelenskyy said. Syniehubov later declared an energy emergency, citing “constant enemy fire” across the region.
  • A Russian missile attack killed a mother and her 11-year-old daughter, and injured 16 people, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a post on Facebook.
  • Five people were killed in a Ukrainian attack on Vasylivka, in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, Moscow-appointed local official Natalya Romanichenko told Russia’s TASS state news agency.
  • A priest was killed in a Ukrainian attack on a funeral procession in Skelki, also in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, according to TASS, citing Russian officials who widely condemned the attack.
  • Ukrainian attacks caused power outages in Russian-occupied areas of Zaporizhia and heating outages in Enerhodar, also in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, Russian-appointed officials said, according to TASS.
  • One of two external power lines supplying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russia, has been cut as a result of a Ukrainian attack, the Russian-installed management of the power station said on Tuesday.
  • A man was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a van in the Shebekinsky district of Russia’s Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
  • Russian air defence systems shot down three guided aerial bombs and 72 Ukrainian drones in one day, TASS reported.

Military aid

  • The US ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, said in an online briefing that 21 NATO allies and two partners have pledged to buy more than $4.5bn in US weapons through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative. Whitaker said he expects more announcements of pledges to buy weapons for Kyiv when defence ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday.
  • Ukrainian forces received an additional injection of 4.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnias ($104.5m) to order drones and electronic warfare systems over the past month, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Politics and diplomacy

  • South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his country’s support for efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the president’s office said. The Kremlin also confirmed that the two leaders discussed the war.
  • Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that France has not officially re-established relations with Russia, but that Moscow had “noted Mr Macron’s statement on the need to restore relations with Russia”, referring to French President Emmanuel Macron. “We are impressed by such statements,” Peskov added.
  • Moscow’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said it would further restrict the Telegram platform in Russia, saying the messaging app was not “observing” Russian law, that “personal data is not protected”, and that the app has “no effective measures to counter fraud and the use of the messaging app for criminal and terrorist purposes”.
  • Telegram’s Russian-born founder, Pavel Durov, defended the app, which is used widely in Ukraine and Russia, saying Telegram would remain committed to protecting freedom of speech and user privacy, “no matter the pressure”.

Sanctions

  • The management of the PCK Schwedt refinery in Germany, controlled by Russia’s Rosneft energy company, made an “urgent appeal” to German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche, saying the threat of US sanctions could harm fuel supply to Berlin and the region. Berlin had secured a sanctions exception for the refinery, but it is set to expire on April 29.

Carrick’s ‘Sir Alex’ playbook and a happy start at Man Utd

Simon Stone

Manchester United reporter at London Stadium
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The unintended consequence of exiting both domestic cup competitions at the earliest possible stage and ending up with the smallest season games-wise since 1914-15 is that the remainder of Manchester United’s campaign is divided into blocks before a longer than usual spell without a game.

They are at the first now. It will be 12 days until United go to Everton.

For Michael Carrick, who was only appointed on 13 January, it is a good chance for his squad to “refresh”, to allow some players to “clean up their niggles and strains” and “take a bit of a breather”.

But it is also an opportunity to reflect.

Carrick did not try and claim Benjamin Sesko’s injury-time equaliser meant their 1-1 draw at West Ham felt like an extension of his four-match winning run, rather than the end of it, which it was.

However, he did acknowledge the overall assessment of the last month has to be good.

“In the grand scheme of things, we take the point, dust ourselves down a little bit and assess it,” he said.

    • 3 hours ago

Carrick’s gamble pays off

Carrick’s initial victories over title challengers Manchester City and Arsenal were unexpected. The ones against Fulham and Tottenham were anticipated but did not arrive without problems that had to be solved.

Combined with the failings of Chelsea and Liverpool, the end outcome is United are fourth, with a handy, but by no means pivotal, advantage in the hunt for a Champions League return, something few could visualise in the wake of Ruben Amorim’s dismissal following the draw at Leeds on 4 January.

“We know how hard it is to put a run together in this league,” said Carrick, whose side are now unbeaten in nine league games, which spanned three managers, including initial interim Darren Fletcher.

“Sometimes it comes naturally, it flows and everything clicks. You look really dangerous and there’s a spark. Sometimes it’s a little bit stodgy.”

The question being asked of Carrick is whether his side can deliver winning performances against opposition they are expected to beat.

Many felt West Ham were in that category, even though Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were aiming for their fourth win in five league games and they had led Chelsea 2-0 in the one that got away.

Carrick did not manage a victory.

What he did do was take a risk to try and get something from a game that appeared lost.

When Manchester United drew against West Ham at Old Trafford in December, Amorim’s only substitution involving an offensive player was Mason Mount for Joshua Zirkzee, 12 minutes from time.

His last change was one defender, Lisandro Martinez, for another, Luke Shaw. Midfielder Kobbie Mainoo and young forward Shea Lacey remained on the bench.

At London Stadium, Carrick gambled. Not so much with Sesko, who replaced Matheus Cunha, who had been ineffective, a charge that could be levelled at all United’s attacking players on this occasion.

It was through his introduction of Zirkzee for full-back Diogo Dalot eight minutes from time where the risk and reward element came.

Carrick switched to a back three and pushed men forward.

He knew there was a chance of conceding a second. It didn’t happen, thanks to two superb saving tackles from another substitute, Leny Yoro, and a Senne Lammens save.

It meant as the clocked ticked past five minutes of injury-time played of the seven added, Carrick’s side still had a chance. Sesko’s brilliant finish ensured they did not head home empty handed.

“It’s always worth it to try and get something out of the game,” said Carrick of his substitution.

“We all want the perfect kind of performance, to be the best we can be.

“Sometimes it doesn’t quite happen, but it doesn’t mean you give up.

“Obviously we went for it, with three at the back and the rest all attacking basically to try and find that goal. That’s the way we should do it.”

It’s an attitude straight out of the Sir Alex Ferguson playbook. He was always prepared to gamble in order to get a desired outcome and felt it was why he enjoyed so many late successes in his stellar career.

An 87th-minute winner against Arsenal, a 90th-minute winner against Fulham, and now a 95th-minute equaliser against West Ham.

Carrick is pleased with 13 points out of 15 from his first block of games.

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US family demands pro-Palestine protester’s release after hospitalisation

Leqaa Kordia’s family say they were left in the dark when the 33-year-old was rushed from an immigration detention centre in Texas to a nearby hospital late last week.

For more than 12 hours, Kordia’s family and legal representation said they were given no information about her whereabouts and condition. Her cousin, Hamzah Abushaban, said the family was “stonewalled, like hardcore”, as they searched for answers.

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“Full transparency: Many people in her family thought she might have died, especially with the secrecy of her condition,” Abushaban told Al Jazeera. “Sometimes, silence speaks for itself.”

Her family and legal team confirmed on Tuesday that she has been released from the hospital. Kordia had suffered a seizure, but her family has only had fleeting contact with her since the medical emergency.

The ordeal is the latest turn in Kordia’s nearly yearlong detention, which began when she was among several protesters targeted by immigration officials for taking part in pro-Palestine demonstrations at Columbia University in 2024.

Kordia remains the only person targeted in connection with the demonstration who is still in immigration detention.

Personal losses helped inspire her protest: Nearly 200 members of her family have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Her recent medical emergency underscores the dangers she faces from her continued detention, not to mention the urgent need for her release, according to Abushaban.

“She’s a fighter, but she’s not fooling anyone,” he said. “She’s still very sick”

‘Arbitrarily detained’

On Monday, Amnesty International joined calls for Kordia’s release, echoing her family’s assertion that she is being unfairly targeted for her pro-Palestine advocacy.

“She has been arbitrarily detained for over ten months for exercising her rights to free speech and protest,” Justin Mazzola, the deputy director of research at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement.

“The Trump administration must stop playing cruel political games with Leqaa’s life. Leqaa Kordia must be immediately released, and there must be accountability for the flagrant violation of her human rights.”

Kordia’s lawyers have also alleged unjust treatment, noting that federal judges had twice ruled she was eligible to be released on bond.

Each time, her release has been blocked after immigration officials filed “discretionary stay” requests to keep her in custody while the government appealed.

Since March 2025, the administration of President Donald Trump has targeted a range of student activists for deportation. They include Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, both of Columbia University, and Rumeysa Ozturk, who attended Tufts University in Massachusetts.

But those pro-Palestinian student activists have all successfully petitioned for their release as their cases continue in immigration court, though courts have signalled that they could be taken back into custody.

Kordia, however, has not had that same success.

Kordia came to the US in 2016 from the town of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Initially, she arrived using a visitor’s visa, later transitioning to a student visa.

Eventually, she applied for permanent residency through her mother, a US citizen residing in New Jersey.

But her legal team has said she was wrongly advised by a trusted mentor that the initial approval of her application meant she had legal status. She subsequently allowed her student visa to lapse.

Immigration officials have, in turn, maintained that Kordia was detained for overstaying her student visa, not for her pro-Palestine advocacy.

However, in an initial news release announcing Kordia’s arrest in March 2025, the Department of Homeland Security suggested that she and a second protester – who allegedly “self-deported” – were targeted for their advocacy.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in the release.

“When you advocate for violence and terrorism, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”

‘Intentionally dehumanising’

In his statement on Monday, Mazzola accused immigration officials of showing “blatant disregard” for Kordia’s human rights in detention, pointing to the deterioration of her health.

Kordia has been held at the Prairieland Detention Facility, some 2,400km (1,500 miles) away from her family in New Jersey.

Laila El-Haddad, an author and advocate, said she visited Kordia in December, finding her “very thin, very gaunt” as she complained about unsanitary conditions and a lack of nutritious food at the crowded facility.

“She talked about this being a place that is intentionally dehumanising; that aims to strip her and others of their dignity and their humanity,” she told Al Jazeera.

Kordia’s lawyers and family, meanwhile, said she regularly suffers dizzy spells, fainting and other signs of subpar nutrition.

Still, El-Haddad found that Kordia remained upbeat, and she described the 33-year-old as a pillar of support for other detainees.

“She’s very humble. She kept talking about how ‘I’m not a leader or an activist,’” El-Haddad remembered.

El-Hadded added that Kordia’s case has not gotten as much attention as those of other student protesters, but her story is just as powerful.

“She wasn’t a public-facing activist or speaker in the way some of the other [targeted protesters] were,” El-Hadded explained.

“But she found herself in a position and felt compelled [to protest] because of her own humanity and because she was a person with a deep moral compass and consciousness to act and to speak out.”

Abushaban said he has felt Kordia’s absence acutely at family events. It has been a year of missed birthdays, holidays and other gatherings.

He called for US officials, regardless of political affiliation, to have empathy for her plight.

Ex-rugby league player says head injuries affected mental health

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Dan Roan

Sports editor

Warning: This article contains discussion around suicide and depression.

Former Great Britain rugby league player Josh Jones has revealed he came close to taking his own life as a result of what he says are the effects of head injuries sustained while playing the sport.

Having retired in 2023 because of concussion-related issues, he was then diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) aged 31.

The degenerative brain disease is linked to repeated blows to the head and causes an increased risk of mental illness.

Jones – who made 246 Super League appearances for a number of clubs – is among the youngest and highest-profile claimants in a concussion lawsuit against rugby league authorities.

In his first interview since quitting the game, the former international second row told BBC Sport he considered suicide during his playing career.

“It breaks my heart to share this, but the day before the start of a season, I was contemplating ending my life, and that is how dark it got,” he said.

“I sat there for hours contemplating [it] because I didn’t like the person I was becoming. I felt a burden to my family.

Unable to regulate emotions

Jones says he developed various symptoms after being regularly concussed during training and matches.

Speaking to BBC Sport from Malaysia, where he and his family now live, he said: “I noticed that if I was doing simple tasks, like making my children a bottle of water, trying to pour it and trying to steady my hand, putting a card in the card machine, putting the keys in the door, I just couldn’t stop my shaking,” he said.

“And that’s when things progressively started to get worse; headaches, brain fog, neck pain, eye pain… I’m sensitive to light and to noise, anxiety, depression.

“The scariest thing I find is being unable to regulate my emotions. That terrifies me. I cope with it by just taking myself away. It’s been at the detriment sometimes of our marriage and me being a father and as a friend. I very much isolate myself.

“I would never let my children play, and that’s a really sad thing.”

Jones’ wife Olivia told BBC Sport that the changes in her husband’s personality were “very gradual at first” but became “impossible to ignore”.

“He went from being confident, energetic, and present to being withdrawn, irritable, forgetful – and he just seemed to be constantly in pain,” she said.

‘It scares the life out of me’

Jones – who won three caps for Great Britain in 2019 – says he was diagnosed with probable stage 2 CTE in July 2024, after he had finished playing.

The degenerative brain disease can only be diagnosed definitively after death, and has been linked to dementia.

“Being told that someone could actually see me and support me and was listening to me, it was just relief, because for so long I’d just been told there’s nothing,” he added.

“What the governing body was providing for us as players wasn’t, in my opinion, good enough, because there’s so many players told there’s nothing wrong with them.

“I think there needs to be an independent regulatory body for brain health, not just in rugby league, but throughout sport.

“My neurologist has said I’m at high risk now of further problems. It scares the life out of me what I put my body through and what’s to come.

“It’s heartbreaking, but the hardest thing for me is my children. When I was able to play on a trampoline with them, play football with them in the garden, I loved being a dad.

Lack of protocols made symptoms progress – Jones

Jones and other claimants in the concussion lawsuit argue that the Rugby Football League (RFL) was negligent in failing to take reasonable action to protect them from serious brain injuries.

They also claim that the organisation should have established and implemented rules on the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of actual or suspected concussive injuries. The governing body denies liability.

When asked why he decided to join the legal action, Jones said: “I’ve seen a lot of fans questioning the integrity of players, and saying that they knew the risks.

“I knew I’d have sore shoulders, a bad back, sore knees, maybe arthritis, those sort of physical things. I never knew that I would be left like this – and be living with this neurological damage that the game’s given me.

“For me, it’s not the game, it’s the governance of the game that’s the problem. And to add insult to injury, to be abandoned from the sport – it’s not right. The governing body has failed to protect its players, and something needs to be done.

“I know it’s not just me that’s suffering. When I retired, I had lots of former team-mates reach out to me and ask me, ‘what care have you got, because I’m suffering with the same symptoms as you’.”

Life after rugby

After retirement, Jones tried to forge a career in the financial sector, and then in his father-in-law’s demolition business, but said he “couldn’t deal with the high-stress environment or the hours” and had to “isolate myself in dark rooms for hours”.

“It was just another nightmare,” he said. “So, right now, I don’t do anything. I’m not employed. In a sense, I can’t do anything because I can’t work a nine-to-five.

“I need daily treatment. So we had to sell our home to be able to afford to come to the Far East to get cheaper treatment. We’re looking to head to New Zealand.

“I’m speaking to neurologists over there who have got a different approach, who are recommended by other players who are going through this.

“Being proactive in trying to slow that transition down, because early-onset dementia, that’s a very realistic possibility for me. So is Parkinson’s, epilepsy.

“We’re just trying to find some help. It has been the hardest time of our lives.”

Olivia added that watching her husband struggle after he had retired was “a harsh reality to me as it was ‘oh gosh, this is your life now. This isn’t just the impact of playing week in, week out. You have now got brain damage'”.

“We got to a point in England where there was just no quality of life,” she added.

‘The sport has never been safer’

In a statement, the RFL said that it “takes player safety and welfare extremely seriously and it is always extremely sad to hear of any health difficulties experienced by former players”.

“Rugby League as a sport invests significantly into scientific research, and continues to evolve its approach to help best prevent and manage concussion injuries.

“As such the sport has never been safer in this regard. The RFL has developed a clear action plan including a target to reduce concussions across the sport by 30% and is on track to meet these targets.

“Significant help and assistance is given to former professional players through charity provider Rugby League Cares, [which] supports a comprehensive transition programme supporting players during and post their career, including education and hardship grants.

“A Brain Health Fund has been established offering access to specialist counselling and care – which has provided support to more than 40 former players and their families.”

Solicitor Richard Boardman of Rylands Garth, the firm representing the claimants, said: “Josh’s problems still stick out, because he should be in the prime of his life.

“Josh has been so brave to discuss this publicly and our hearts go out to those who are suffering in silence.”

In December, after five years of legal arguments, claimants in the litigation across both rugby league and union were refused permission to appeal against a decision ordering them to provide all of their medical records to the defendants.

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Howe savours ‘special connection’ with Newcastle fans after win at Spurs

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Ciaran Kelly

Newcastle United reporter at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
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It is hard to think of a more contrasting scene at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

On a night Spurs manager Thomas Frank was subjected to humiliating chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” from a section of his own supporters, opposite number Eddie Howe was repeatedly serenaded by a buoyant away end.

Howe was even pushed in front of the travelling support by Bruno Guimaraes and Kieran Trippier to take the acclaim of the crowd after his side’s 2-1 win.

The Newcastle head coach is not usually one for doing so.

But he could not help but punch the air before waving his arms up and down as Newcastle supporters roared in response.

“That was a special connection,” he said. “I’m grateful it’s still there.”

Those words were uttered just a few days after Newcastle were booed off at St James’ Park following a 3-2 defeat against Brentford.

That was an evening a crestfallen Howe admitted he was not doing his job “well enough at the moment”.

It led to a lot of soul searching for Howe behind the scenes following just one win in eight games in all competitions.

“It was not an act,” he said. “That was me being very real and very genuine in terms of how I felt.

“I’ll say it again. I’ve got to believe that I’m the right person to be in the job with all the sacrifices that it entails and I’ve got to feel that the players are playing for me.

‘It brought us closer together’

The sight of a number of Howe’s players struggling with cramp in the closing stages certainly told you they were fighting for him.

They were maxed out on a night some familiar names and some more recent additions delivered for Newcastle.

The club’s recruitment has rightly come under intense scrutiny – Newcastle have not seen much of an immediate return from a £250m summer spend – but three of Howe’s signings stepped up on Wednesday.

Malick Thiaw, the one undoubted early success, opened the scoring, the rapid Anthony Elanga put in his most impressive performance yet and Jacob Ramsey scored what proved to be the winner after netting his first goal for the club in the second half.

“I keep saying the lack of training is slowing their development,” Howe said.

“But they are beginning to feel at home in the team and once you feel part of it, and feel integral to how the team plays, you can only get better.”

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Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa were left on the bench – just a few months after Howe spent £124m on the forwards.

That told its own story as the visitors lined up without a recognised striker for the second away league game in a row.

Anthony Gordon was instead tasked with leading the line on the road again after Howe took heart from the opening half an hour of his side’s 4-1 defeat against Liverpool.

Gordon put Newcastle in front at Anfield that night, but it was still a bold call.

However, Gordon, Elanga and Harvey Barnes aggressively led the press out of possession as they hunted down Spurs’ defenders and broke forward quickly with the ball.

There were still occasions where Newcastle were crying out for a poacher in the box to get on the end of a number of teasing crosses from Elanga.

However, the speed of Newcastle’s front line caused Spurs problems and Gordon’s dancing feet set up Ramsey’s winner.

Remarkably, it was just travel-sick Newcastle’s third away league victory of the season.

Newcastle have too often been soft, throwing away more points (19) than any other side in the division.

But this was an evening where they “really did inspire each other” following a difficult few days.

“If anything they used it in a positive way and reinforced relationships,” Howe added.

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