ISAAC HAYDEN’S last-minute goal sent St James’ Park into raptures as Newcastle United clinched a 1-0 victory over Chelsea.

It was a drab affair overall and neither side looked capable of finding the knockout blow. But the Magpies held on long enough to strike with just seconds remaining.

Steve Bruce admitted his side were lucky to come out on top in the end, but credited their spirit in games against the top six, while reserving special praise for the defence.

“It was smash and grab,” he said. 

“The one thing we’ve proven, especially here against the big teams, is we can fill in. It’s not great to watch but when I see them with the effort and endeavour and sticking to the game plan, I was delighted.

“You have to stay in the game and I thought: ‘Take a point’ on 90 minutes. Some of the defending from the back three was terrific.”

Chelsea settled into a rhythm rather quickly, dominating possession and barely allowing Newcastle a second on the ball.

The home side’s poor luck with injuries continued as Jetro Willems was forced off on a stretcher.

Matt Ritchie replaced him and, although they went closest in the early stages when Joelinton crashed a header against the bar from Emil Krath’s cross, there wasn’t much to get the sellout crowd on side.

At the other end, Tammy Abraham threatened before Martin Dubravka was forced to deny the onrushing N’Golo Kante.

Newcastle’s game plan was obvious, and hardly surprising. They sat deep and frustrated the visitors and, though Chelsea didn’t create too many chances, both Miguel Almiron and the returning Allan Saint-Maximin struggled to affect proceedings despite their best efforts.

Five minutes of stoppage time were added, and nothing quite summed up the first half like Jonjo Shelvey losing possession to Kante, only for Abraham to slip over and stop the counter-attack in its tracks.

The pace of the game didn’t improve after the break, but Chelsea almost took the lead through Willian after Mount slipped him in. His shot went wide, before Mount himself tested Dubravka.

Sean Longstaff came on for Krafth and and almost instantly had a hand in a goal for Chelsea. His poor control allowed Abraham to steal in and round Dubravka, but he could only shoot wide from a narrow angle.

Ritchie then denied the striker with an excellent goal-line clearance, just before he was replaced by Michy Batshuayi.

The Blues pushed and probed, but struggled to find a way through. Longstaff squandered a late chance for Newcastle after Saint-Maximin knocked down Almiron’s cross in the area.

The hosts stole it at the death when Hayden headed in Saint-Maximin’s cross to grab a vital three points completely against the run of play.

Not for the first time this season, Chelsea failed to break down a deep defensive line. Manager Frank Lampard said his side didn’t do enough in the final third.

“If we don’t score enough goals, a team like Newcastle won’t come out, they’re very organised with what they do, and you’re always open to what happened,” he said.

“When we did attack, there were so many moments where a bit of quality, the final pass, and certainly the finish wasn’t there for us today.”