Wilson’s spot-kick earned the hosts their first victory in four Premier League games as they narrowly beat Brentford 1-0 at St James’ Park on Saturday.
After a first half of few chances, Wilson thought he had nudged Newcastle ahead just after the interval only for the referee to blow for a foul on Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken.
Flekken was the one doing the impeding in the 64th minute, however, as he felled Anthony Gordon in the penalty area and Wilson stepped up to covert from the spot.
Newcastle were awarded another spot-kick late on, but referee Craig Pawson’s decision was overturned following a VAR review.
Brentford never really looked like avoiding their first defeat of the campaign as Newcastle moved up to 11th in the standings, level on six points with Thomas Frank’s team in 10th.
“The break probably came at a good time for us, we were on a run of defeats and needed to get back to winning ways,” Wilson told Sky Sports.
“We had to win ugly and three points were the most important today. We believe in each other.
“Pressure is for tyres. For me, practise (penalties) in training and on a matchday you’ve done it so many times and it’s just repetition, stay composed and that’s what I did.”
Newcastle’s three successive defeats before Brentford’s visit had dampened expectations around St James’ Park after an impressive last season in which they lost only three of their final 14 matches.
Against a well-organised Brentford, Newcastle looked every inch a team out of form, with Bruno Guimaraes’ close-range header their only real chance of note in the opening period.
Newcastle were vastly improved after the break, with Wilson at the heart of all that was good about them.
Flekken had no chance of keeping out Wilson’s expertly-taken spot-kick, as the English striker netted his eighth goal in his last seven league starts.
He has also now scored 15 of the 16 penalties he has taken in the Premier League, with only Matthew Le Tissier, Danny Murphy and James Beattie netting a higher share among players to have taken as many as Wilson.
Wilson scored from the spot after Flekken’s foul on Anthony Gordon
/ Action Images via ReutersA disappointing response from Brentford ensured they failed to score for the first time in eight leagues games and Newcastle kept only their third Premier League clean sheet since February.
“I don’t think it’s a penalty,” said Frank.
“We got trolled in a similar situation a some weeks ago against Tottenham when Kevin Schade was through, clear contact with the keeper took him out but apparently he (the keeper) pulled out before. And they also talked about a situation between Arsenal and Manchester City but that was penalty awarded.
“But going forward these should not be penalties. We have a keeper clearly pulling out and a player cleverly letting his leg hang there. It’s not a penalty.
“If the assistant didn’t take the decision, it should 100% be humans making the decisions like that, then I’m convinced that VAR would not have overturned the decision, so I think that’s a problem.
“But because it’s not clear and obvious, it’s too tight. Now we will have a situation where Howard Webb will come out and apologise about the situation and say ‘we’re sorry’, I just think it’s too many time but it can happen.”
Additional reporting from PA
