![\"\"](\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2.56263787.jpg\")
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce hailed Jacob Murphy after his first Premier League goal in nearly three years earned a point at Wolves.<\/p>\nNewcastle boss Steve Bruce hailed Jacob Murphy after his first Premier League goal in nearly three years earned a point at Wolves.<\/p>\n
The winger\u2019s late free-kick cancelled out Raul Jimenez\u2019s fourth goal of the season to grab a 1-1 draw.<\/p>\n
Murphy\u2019s last top-flight strike came in January 2018 and he has since had loan spells at West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday after struggling to make a consistent breakthrough following his move from Norwich in 2017.<\/p>\n
But Bruce praised his impact after playing him out of position at wing-back due to the Magpies\u2019 injury problems.<\/p>\n
Bruce said: \u201cHe was arguably our best player today and I\u2019m delighted for him. He had a big loan at Sheffield Wednesday last year and that did him the world of good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never contemplated it (a loan move) from the first week he was back. He was a different player. Certainly physically he\u2019s come back in really good condition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know he\u2019s a good athlete and he certainly looks like he\u2019s matured. He had been practicing free-kicks on Thursday in training and I was thinking \u2018let\u2019s see if he can do it again\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe development is there for everybody to see. Now it was about \u2018can he come and perform at this level?\u2019 He was certainly comfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m delighted with the resilience of the players especially with the problems we had, lot of players were out of position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto tried to force the issue early and Allan Saint-Maximin\u2019s deflected strike nearly caught out Rui Patricio in the first half.<\/p>\n
But it was a game where the action was confined to the last 10 minutes, when Wolves took the lead.<\/p>\n
Neto\u2019s free-kick was headed out but only as far as Jimenez lurking on the edge of the box.<\/p>\n
The striker took a touch before lashing a half-volley past Karl Darlow, although the goalkeeper got a strong hand to it.<\/p>\n
He looked to have given Wolves the victory to take them fourth but Newcastle struck with a minute left.<\/p>\n
Callum Wilson went down softly under pressure from Conor Coady and Murphy curled a low 20-yard effort round the wall, which a scrambling Patricio could not keep out.<\/p>\n
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: \u201cI have to see the Newcastle goal again but the ball cannot go on that side of the wall, it cannot go in. If it goes over the wall we can deal with that but it cannot go in that side.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were without problems until we got the goal we deserved and then we should manage the game better.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made a mistake on the set-up of the wall. We were solid and didn\u2019t allow any chances to Newcastle, in that part we are positive but we are upset because we didn\u2019t solve the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of shots, not a lot on target but that\u2019s something to improve on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played well in terms of possession, Newcastle are very organized but we were in control. In the second half we were almost playing in our offensive side of the pitch but we made a mistake which punished us a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n