The tactical ploy worked perfectly, with Willock revealing it was the result of some pre-prepared work in training over the last few weeks, with Howe setting up a range of different scenarios, one of which required his players to attack against ten men.
“The manager’s installed that in us,” said Willock, who claimed Newcastle’s second goal at the end of a lightning-sharp counter-attacking move. “We create those scenarios in training every day.
“We try to work on different scenarios, and the manager has installed in us that when something like that happens, we need to get it wide, get crosses in the box and finish our chances. I thought we did that, and could have got a few more goals, but we’re happy to have got the clean sheet and another three points.”