Newcastle United evening headlines: Callum Wilson on VAR, Everton pitch invader and Magpies' path to safety

A look at your Newcastle United evening headlines on Friday, March 18.

From the darkest of tunnels with barely a slither of light ahead of them to an illuminated pathway to Premier League safety and hopefully well beyond. The future is looking bright again at St James' Park.

Had the Magpies' fate been played out at Turf Moor with a last gasp victory in Lancashire, the campaign would no doubt have been dubbed: "The Great Escape" for Eddie Howe's men.

Instead, Newcastle's storyline for the season is more than likely to be much less emotionally charged and by the time that trip to Turf Moor comes around, United's fate should be well sealed. For all the suggestions of a last day shoot-out for survival, this game will probably be a dead rubber from a Toon point of view.

Callum Wilson doesn’t think enough Premier League referees are willing to go to the VAR monitor unless they know the decision will be overturned. The Newcastle United striker was unhappy that David Coote was not sent to look at the potential foul on Jacob Murphy in the defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.

Many viewers felt that the Magpies should have been given a penalty when Wilson’s team mate had his shirt pulled and then was tripped in the 18-yard box by Trevoh Chalobah but the appeals were waved away. After that incident happened just shy of the hour mark at Stamford Bridge, the home side went on to win 1-0 thanks to a moment of magic from Kai Havertz in the 89th minute.

The Magpies benefited from a VAR review at Everton in midweek when Toffees midfielder Allan was shown the red card after referee Craig Pawson was told to check his original yellow card decision on the monitor, although Eddie Howe's side couldn't make their advantage count. Wilson, who is still