Newcastle and Luton Town shared the spoils in a breathless eight-goal thriller at St James’ Park as the Magpies came back from two goals down in the second half.

Sean Longstaff had given Newcastle the lead twice in the first, but the Hatters came back through Gabriel Osho and Ross Barkley.

Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo gave Luton a 4-2 advantage with 30 minutes to go, but Kieran Trippier and Harvey Barnes scored in quick succession as both teams shared the points.

How the match unfolded

Newcastle took advantage of an end-to-end start when Longstaff finished off a swift counter-attacking move after seven minutes. Trippier played in a low cross from the right that the midfielder ran on to score with a first-time strike.

Luton equalised 13 minutes later as Osho headed past Martin Dubravka following a well-worked free-kick. 

Newcastle retook the lead less than two minutes later, with another counter-attack. Anthony Gordon raced down the left and saw his shot saved by Thomas Kaminski, but the ball fell to Longstaff to get his second of the game.

Shortly after Gordon missed a great chance to double the Magpies’ lead, Luton were level through Barkley. Dubravka saved Alfie Doughty’s shot but the rebound fell to an unmarked Barkley to score in the 40th minute.

Luton were awarded a penalty early in the second half after a VAR check found that Dan Burn’s foul on Chiedozie Ogbene continued into the penalty area. Morris converted from the spot, sending Dubravka the wrong way to give Luton a 59th-minute lead.

Three minutes later Adebayo made it 4-2 as the visitors hit Newcastle on the fastbreak.

Newcastle pulled a goal back in style in the 67th minute as Bruno Guimaraes picked out Trippier with a sublime pass with the outside of the foot, and the defender scored with a volley.

Barnes, who was making his first appearance since an injury in September, levelled the match in the 73rd minute as he beat Kaminski from outside the box.

Jacob Murphy had an incredible opportunity to score the winner for the home side with five minutes to go, but he missed the target from inside the six-yard box with his sliding attempt.

Newcastle drop to ninth with 33 points, while move Luton up to 16th with 20 points.

Club reports

Newcastle report | Luton report

Match officials

Referee: Tom Bramall. Assistants: Mat Wilkes, Mark Scholes. Fourth official: Oliver Langford. VAR: Michael Salisbury. Assistant VAR: Akil Howson.