It positively wasn’t the homecoming that Ange Postecoglou was anticipating when he arrived again in Melbourne for his Tottenham facet to play Newcastle United on Wednesday evening.
As a substitute of a victory for his Premier League facet, Postecoglou’s males went down 5-4 in a penalty shootout on the MCG after the edges completed common time locked at 1-1.
The shootout itself took the Australian coach abruptly, as he walked over to shake United coach Eddie Howe’s hand when the 90 minutes had elapsed.
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Spurs midfielder James Maddison’s scored within the thirty first minute to take the London-based facet forward, earlier than United’s Alex Isak broke by way of Tottenham’s dominance to stage the scores within the forty fifth minute.
However Maddison’s purpose might very nicely have been disallowed, with imaginative and prescient exhibiting his hand was used to manage the ball earlier than he scored.
There was no VAR within the pleasant, so the purpose was counted and the sport moved on.
When it got here to the penalty shootout, Tottenham’s Bryan Gil had his shot saved by Newcastle’s Mark Gillespie to even up the scores at 4-4.
Then got here Harrison Ashby, who had the job of penalising Spurs for his or her mistake and seal the shooutout 5-4.
It wasn’t the sport Postecoglou would have appreciated, however nonetheless, the assist he obtained from the Australian crowd was out of this world.
Postecoglou was given a rousing spherical of applause when he entered the MCG, as a brief video montage of his rise to highest stage of the sport was performed.
In entrance of an enormous 78,419 followers, he proved he was one among Australia’s favorite sons.
Either side flew Down Below simply days after ending up their Premier League campaigns. Newcastle completed seventh whereas Spurs, after a promising run on the prime of the desk to start the season, fell to fifth to narrowly miss out on a spot within the profitable UEFA Champions League.
Postecoglou earlier defended the pleasant amid considerations for participant welfare.
The Wednesday evening pleasant was Spurs’ final match earlier than the low season break.
Newcastle will entrance up once more on Friday, dealing with off towards the A-League All Stars at Marvel Stadium.
