Magpies smash Tykes for six

Lovenkrands: Struck twice for Newcastle

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Newcastle stretched their lead at the top of the Championship to eight points with a crushing 6-1 victory over 10-man Barnsley.

The Tykes nearly made it to half-time intact but the key moment arrived just before the interval when goalkeeper Luke Steele was sent off for a foul on Peter Lovenkrands in the area and the Danish winger scored from the penalty spot.

Newcastle ruthlessly took advantage of their extra man after the break with Lovenkrands netting his second within three minutes of the restart and Danny Guthrie netting a double.

Jonas Gutierrez also got in on the act with a fine sole effort and Kevin Nolan completed Newcastle's scoring before a late consolation from Daniel Bogdanovic.

Superb

The game kicked off after a minute's applause for Charlie Crowe, the last surviving member of the club's 1951 FA Cup winning side, and Keith Alexander, following their recent deaths.

Andy Carroll went close to the opening goal 14 minutes before the break when he headed inches wide after Jose Enrique and Fabrice Pancrate had combined superbly down the left.

But the Yorkshire side were dealt a massive blow three minutes later when keeper Steele was dismissed for bringing down Lovenkrands in the box.

The Dane sent substitute David Preece the wrong way from the spot to give his side the lead.

Lovenkrands collected his second within three minutes of the restart when Tykes skipper Stephen Foster allowed Carroll to cross for his strike partner, who finished expertly with his head.

It was 3-0 with 50 minutes gone when Guthrie's effort from 22 yards was deflected past Preece, and from that moment on, the only issue was just how wide the margin of victory would be.

Spiderman

Gutierrez's big moment came 11 minutes later when he cut inside from the left before unleashing an unstoppable shot which went in off the underside of the crossbar from just outside the box.

The Argentine was then able to unveil his Spiderman mask for the first time, as he did not have it with him when he scored his only other goal against Peterborough.

Four became five with 69 minutes gone when Guthrie's free-kick ended up in the back of the net with Carroll desperately claiming he had got a touch, and Nolan added a sixth two minutes later.

It might have been even worse for the visitors, but Lovenkrands was denied a hat-trick when his 74th-minute header came back off the inside of the post, and Pancrate passed up a glorious opportunity four minutes later.

Substitute Bogdanovic pulled one back for the visitors after a mix-up between Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson, but the home side might have increased their tally to embarrassing proportions as time ran down.