Steve Bruce breathed a massive sigh of relief as Newcastle put a serious dent in West Ham’s bid for Champions League football. 

A late goal from sub Joe Willock earned the hosts a massive three points as they all but secured Premier League survival.

Yet it could have been a different story after the 10-man Hammers battled back from two goals down. 

Seeing red

Issa Diop put the ball in his own net to hand the Magpies the lead after 36 minutes — and Craig Dawson was sent off just seconds later for committing a second bookable offence in the build-up to the goal.

It got worse for the Hammers when keeper Lukasz Fabianski gifted Joelinton a second before the break but Diop cut the arrears in the 73rd minute and Jesse Lingard levelled matters from the spot 10 minutes from time.

Just as it appeared as though the visitors could snatch victory, 21-year-old Willock popped up to give Bruce something to smile about courtesy of a crucial 82nd-minute winner.

Nail-biting for Bruce

The Toon boss said: "This job comes with a government health warning. 

"Human nature is to defend what you've got and sit deep. But all the things we talked about at half-time focused on not going deep and going after them.

"I’m not going to take anything for granted. I’ve always said it’s the accumulation of points. And 35, in my opinion, is not enough, so you won’t get me jumping and hollering at the moment.

"We’ve still got six games to play — can we finish above where we did last season? Can we beat last season’s points tally? Can we beat where we were? We’ll try our utmost."

Match-winner Willock, on loan from Arsenal, added: "We're getting involved in the game way more than we were before, we're controlling games more. Everyone's buying in to what the manager's trying to do."

Did you know? 

Newcastle became the eighth side to hit the 800-goal milestone at home in the Premier League (801 goals).

West Ham lost for the first time in their 23 Premier League encounters with teams in the bottom half of the table since David Moyes returned to the club (won 14 and drawn eight).

Victory secured Newcastle's fifth Premier League double over West Ham (also 1993-94, 1994-95, 2010-11 and 2017-18).

West Ham have scored four own goals in the Premier League this season, more than any other side.

Hammers defender Dawson was sent off for the first time in his 345th appearance in English league football.

Joelinton has now netted in consecutive home games for Newcastle, with two of the Brazilian’s five Premier League goals coming in his last three appearances in the competition.

The two occasions in the Premier League this season to see a player score at both ends have come courtesy of West Ham — Diop vs Newcastle today and Tomas Soucek vs Arsenal in March.

Willock has scored three goals in nine Premier League appearances for Newcastle after netting just one in 40 for Arsenal.