The Nigerian netted a 99th-minute goal as the Toffees sealed
a 1-0 victory to lift Everton three points off the Premier League drop zone.
“I’ve broken my hand in the celebrations. My bones must be
going soft, I don’t remember the moment,” joked Lampard after the match on
Thursday.
“It was an amazing night and we need those nights. Spirit
and togetherness, the players stood up tonight. It was not a night for quality
or calm. It means so much to the stadium we all felt that. I wanted to use the
atmosphere.”
The former Chelsea manager, who praised his boys for the
victory, said the win is a testament to what the team can achieve especially
playing with a man down.
‘We Proved What We Could Be’
“Everton fans wanted to see passion. We proved what we could
be tonight,” he added.
“Newcastle are a good team, they will be alright. From our
point of view, it was can we dig in? And can we get one or two opportunities
when down to 10 men.”
A second-half interruption caused by a protestor tying
himself to a goal post and a VAR review which led to Allan seeing red meant
there were 14 minutes of added time at Goodison Park.
And it was Lampard’s men who took advantage as Dominic
Calvert-Lewin teed up Iwobi to score the biggest goal of his much-maligned
Everton career since a £40 million ($52 million) move from Arsenal three years
ago.
When this fixture was postponed in late December due to an
outbreak of coronavirus cases, it was Newcastle who were rooted in the bottom
three.
However, the Magpies’ defeat at Chelsea on Sunday was their
first in 10 games as the investment of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund has made
an instant impact in their first transfer window.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, a boyhood Everton
fan, described this game as the biggest for the Toffees in 20 years given the
consequences of going down.
The club are in the process of building a £500 million new
stadium, due to open in 2024, and have already lost the sponsorship of Russian
billionaire Alisher Usmanov after he was hit by sanctions from the UK
government.
Usmanov’s long-term business partner and Everton owner
Farhad Moshiri has pumped in over £500 million in signings since taking charge
in 2016.
The Blues have precious little to show for that investment
as a succession of managers have struggled to match Moshiri’s expectations.
An intense start from the hosts quickly fizzled out as Newcastle
had the better of the first-half without creating many good chances.
Chris Wood headed straight at Asmir Begovic, while Fabian
Schar nearly caught out the Bosnian with a free-kick from inside his own half.
The flow of a scrappy game was further interrupted by it
taking seven minutes to free the protestor against fossil fuels from the post.
“I don’t know whether that (stoppage) affected us, but we
weren’t the same team second-half,” said Newcastle boss Eddie Howe.
Once the action got back underway the introduction of
England international Calvert-Lewin off the bench made a massive difference to
the home side.
Calvert-Lewin has missed almost all of the season due to a
variety of injuries and keeping him fit for the run-in is likely to play a huge
part in Everton’s bid for survival.
Anthony Gordon forced Martin Dubravka into a stunning save
with a fierce strike from outside the box before Calvert-Lewin just failed to
connect with Richarlison’s dangerous low cross.
However, their momentum was cut short when Allan dived in on
Allan Saint-Maximin to break up a counter-attack and was shown a straight red
card after the intervention of VAR.
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