Newcastle United moved to within one point of the top four in the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Friday night.
The hosts took the lead through Emmanuel Dennis after a poor back pass from Sven Botman allowed the attacker to race through against Nick Pope before lobbing the ball over the giant and into the far corner.
Newcastle rallied and found their equaliser shortly before half time. Joe Willock won the ball back in the Forest half and made an intelligent run down the channel before dinking a cross to the back post for Alexander Isak to acrobatically find the bottom corner.
Elliot Anderson had a goal disallowed for offside but Eddie Howe's men kept battling and were eventually awarded a penalty for handball in stoppage time as Isak's header was illegally stopped, which allowed the centre-forward to fire in his second and the winner.
Before that, however, there were some "reverse dark arts" from a certain Kieran Trippier who stood gleefully over the penalty spot with a wry smile on his face.
The moment has gone viral due to the hilarious nature surrounding the incident, with the right-back taking all of the attention and distraction from the Forest players, before handing the ball to Isak.
It truly looked as though he was about to take the penalty, with even Sky Sports showing the England international's penalty graphic in the preceding moments.
The Sweden international would indeed score twice and set-up the chalked-off header from Anderson, impressing throughout the evening, and was the star of the show. However, he was not the only impressive performer for Newcastle as midfielder Willock was an unsung hero.
How did Joe Willock perform against Nottingham Forest?
The former Arsenal dynamo was exceptional in the middle of the park and was one of the standout players on the pitch at the City Ground as he played the full 90 minutes.
Willock made an impact at both ends of the pitch and deserved to be on the winning side. As per Sofascore, the Englishman won six of his eight (75%) individual duels as he completed two tackles and three interceptions throughout the match - highlighting the defensive work the gem offers out of possession in recovering the ball back for his side.
The lung-busting runner also provided quality on the ball by creating two chances, one of which resulted in Isak's first goal as he produced an excellent cross for the striker, and completing two of his three attempted dribbles.
Willock, who had 51 touches of the ball, also found his target with all of his attempted crosses and long passes and was successful in 85% of his attempted passes, as per Sofascore.
These statistics show that the Magpies man was influential at both ends of the pitch for Newcastle and, therefore, key to them picking up all three points.
Isak, deservedly, picked up plaudits for his goalscoring triumphs but Willock was the unsung hero on the night with his hard-working, quality, performance in the middle of the park.