THE completion of the Rafalution, Part One, was tantalisingly within touching distance.
But Leeds’ main man Chris Wood clearly had not read the script.
Rob Green in the opposing net kept Newcastle at bay with some terrific saves, most notably from Rafa Benitez, who has saved Newcastle from the depths of Mike Ashley despair, was on the verge of a vital victory for his mission of promotion back to the Premier League.
The Spaniard even admitted in his programme notes that “we are so close now”.
Skipper Jamaal Lascelles’ second-half header put his Toon boys so close to the Prem they could taste it.
But then, in the depths of injury-time, up popped Wood for Leeds — who else?
This may have been second-tier fare, but the atmosphere was more of a top Premier League fixture.
It is hard to define what makes a ‘big club’, but perhaps the level of interest from fans of other sides best explains it.
And while neither Leeds nor Newcastle have achieved anything positive in the last decade, the wider interest in them remains huge.
Toon are still surely going up given their gap over third-placed Huddersfield.
Leeds supporters are still feeling nervy about their play-off prospects, with seventh-placed Fulham lurking ominously behind.
They could have been feeling a lot more comfortable had Alfonso Pedraza’s 20-yard blast on nine minutes hit the net instead of the bar.
The ball then bounced down — crucially NOT over the line — before Kemar Roofe’s weak header on the rebound was smartly saved by Karl Darlow.
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Newcastle’s Jonjo Shelvey tried to sneak a cheeky one in direct from a corner, only to be denied by alert visiting keeper Rob Green.
Matt Ritchie then tried an ambitious strike of his own, curling over from 25 yards.
Benitez’s men turned the screw before half-time, with Aleksandar Mitrovic — in for the crocked Dwight Gayle — urging fans to raise the roof.
And in a frenetic minute-or-so spell before the break, the hosts came repeatedly close to breaking the deadlock.
First, Frenchman Yoan Gouffran breezed past the Leeds defence and walloped the post from 18 yards.
The rebound fell to Ritchie, whose shot looked to be going in before Pontus Jansson’s brave intervention.
From the resulting corner, Chancel Mbemba crashed a header goalwards at the back post but somehow former England stopper Green, rolling back the years, tipped it over.
Even then the Toon assault was not over, as Ayoze Perez flicked wide from close range.
Green was at it again shortly after the break, turning wide Ritchie’s dangerous free-kick.
Leeds then rode their luck as Luke Ayling appeared to tug back Mbemba just as the Congolese defender was about to shoot at the back post.
Ayling was also nearly punished for a weak back-header just after the hour which let in Mitrovic, but Jansson bailed his team-mate out with a vital interception.
The pressure was telling and on 67 minutes, Leeds cracked.
Mitrovic headed back Gouffran’s sweeping cross, allowing Lascelles to flick in.
Green, playing out of his skin, almost kept it out, but replays showed the ball had crossed the line.
After the penalty cock-up in the last home fixture against Burton — where referee Keith Stroud gaffed by failing to award a retake — it was comforting to see the officials make the right call.
It would have been easier were Mitrovic not denied from a few yards by Green again.
But just as the Toon seemed to be happily playing out the closing minutes, the unthinkable happened.
Roofe found an inch of space to hit a fine 95th-minute cross and there was Wood, for the 28th time this season, to strike.
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