After going ahead with two goals in the first half this afternoon, Newcastle ran out fairly easy winners even though Sunderland enjoyed more of the play in the second period.
Newcastle got off to the perfect start this afternoon with a goal after only 4 minutes. And it was Michael Owen again who got the goal, as he ghosted in front of Paul McShane from just 10 yards out to head home Geremi’s pinpoint cross from the right wing.
It was Owen’s 11th goal of the season and an excellent way to start the game for Newcastle fans.
In the first 20 minutes Newcastle had much more of the play but were unable to add to their lead. After 27 minutes Dean Whitehead was the first man to receive a yellow card for a deliberate hand ball on the halfway line.
On 29 minutes Martins is put clear down the left by Barton, and Owen and Viduka try to get into the box but Oba has his eyes on goal and gets beyond the challenge of McShane before firing low at Gordon’s near post.
But Gordon made an excellent stop gets down low to hold the ball well. Then Martins appeared to be brought down in the box after 39 minutes by McShane, but TV replays of the incident showed referee Dean made the right decision by waving play on.
Just before half time Newcastle went 2-0 up and it’s that man Owen again. Owen passed with Viduka inside the penalty box and tried to lift the ball over Higginbotham, but the Sunderland player appeared to handle the ball.
Referee Mike Dean had no hesitation and pointed to the spot. The Newcastle captain took the penalty himself and got his second goal of the game as his low shot deflected into the net off Gordon. That’s his 12th goal of the season for Newcastle.
Sunderland started the second half having more of the possession than in the first half.
Martins and Owen played a nice one-two 25 yards out and the Nigerian was suddenly in on goal. But Martins’ powerful strike was kept out by Craig Gordon. That was an excellent opportunity to put the game away for the Magpies.
On 68 minutes Damien Duff came on to replace Oba Martins that was not before Liam Miller was booked for a foul on the Nigerian.
Sunderland then broke on the right with Murphy, and he found the unmarked Jones, who was denied a goal by a fantastic Steve Harper save as the Newcastle goalkeeper went full length to push the ball clear.
Four minutes later Andy Reid followed Miller into the book for a wild, sliding challenge on Owen and then 19 year-old striker Andy Carroll came on for Mark Viduka.
Another yellow card for Sunderland followed as Nosworthy entered the book for a clumsy challenge on Carroll, making it 5 yellow cards for Sunderland players this afternoon. No Newcastle player was booked.
Then Andy Carroll was so close to getting his first competitive goal for Newcastle and was only inches away when he narrowly missed connecting with Owen’s chipped cross from the left.
But the final whistle came with Kevin Keegan’s name ringing around St. James’ Park as Kevin keeps his perfect record against Sunderland with a 5th win out of five against the red and whites.
Two goal Newcastle captain of course was the hero for this game and it’s now 6 games unbeaten with 14 points and we are now level on points with Spurs. That’s also our 4th clean sheet in 6 games - who says our defense is weak anymore?
Comments welcome.
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33 responses so far ↓
1 adaaaam // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:43
butt and beye were quality, and obviously micky O was the hero!
2 apan // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:43
wooo we slay em mackems!
3 goalcentre.com // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:44
For those magpies fans who missed the match:-
http://www.goalcentre.com/newcastle-united-vs-sunderland-highlights/
Enjoy!
4 wsq // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:48
duff time to move on.. looks disinterested.
5 Marty // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:49
Gr8 game today,gr8 result n looking good for next season.OWEN said he`s really enjoyin it here at the moment which is showin n we will need him to bring this team forward.
No fears in this team at the moment……..
Grt flowing football.
6 Vitorbarbosa // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:49
Ooh, A win is a win though they try to comeback in the second half. How many of you already drunk here?
7 Marty // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:50
BEYE TAYLS FAYE N JOSE all played grt today,solid back line.
8 wsq // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:51
2nd half wasn’t encouraging. defensively yes.. but we gave away possession willy nilly! Im furious.
9 51times // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:52
Cheer Up Roy Keane
10 wsq // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:55
pardon guys but i will always pin point the negatives.
Oba needed to be more clever in the 2nd half his movement was poor at times. Selfish at times and poor finishing for that one chance he had.
I don’t like seeing him showing his displeasure too often even during wins. The least he could do is applaud back at the supporters.
11 GloryMagpie // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:56
wsq just shut up. A win is a win, im proud of the team for today’s performance.
12 Spyro // Apr 20, 2008 at 15:57
wsq that was because sunderland were so poor our players got complacent, it happens. Geremi and Barton were well below their recent form today, expecially Geremi, but i dont mind as long as they get their form back for our last few games. I think at times Enrique and Faye welcomed needless pressure on us today as well. oh well, a wins a win, and overall a fairly decent performance, but one of our worst since the Birmingham game.
13 Spyro // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:00
Butt, Owen, Taylor, Beye, Viduka and Martins all played well today. Beye is trully a world class RB and he fully deserves our player of the year.
14 geordie in taipei // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:00
OH MY GOODNESS - HOW FAT IS REID ? Number 20 for the scum ! He’s like a weeble ! No wonder they lost - Roy Keane apparently has them on the pie and peas diet ! Actually a few of their players look podgy but he’s massive ! LOL. Wasn’t a good game but the result is tops….. the KEVOLUTION continues !
15 Howie // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:01
not bad to win and not play well. clean sheets always mean you will pick some sort of result up. next game is definetly winnable and the final two games are great tests to see how well we are doing with this formation
16 moe // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:02
hey wsq, u got a sister i can bang??
i mean wat the f*** is wrong with u, cant u just enjoy the win
17 goalcentre.com // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:05
Newcastle United on fire of late!
18 Ross // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:06
andy reid is the fattest lad playing in the premier league, without doubt.
he’s not just carrying weight, that lad is actually just a fattie.
and for anyone doubting michael owen the past few days, i hope that shut you up, he was excellent. over the moon with the win, bragging rights are ours!
sjp sounded the loudest its been in seasons today.
howay the lads!!
19 Spyro // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:11
i have doubted Owen many times but his form lately, not to mention scoring twice against the mackems has completely changed my view of him, great captain
20 wsq // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:16
enrique was complaining towards the end because there was no outlet for him to clear forward. blame.. martins.
We need to add firepower i.e. service from the left as well. Once other teams get smart over out tactics we’ll need some diversity. Most our service is coming from the right.
Fair enough enrique is doing a damn good job at the moment.
Yea we do get complacent by not closing them down as soon as we should. They nearly pulled off a simimlar short corner that created a goal the last time we went to the stadium of light.
Bring on Quality signings. Mickee Owain looks so good, i think there was atleast 3 yellow cards shown for fouls on him.
21 wsq // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:17
Skysports is being dirty at reporting Oba’s news again. Fook Sake.
THis is the actual article
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2275025,00.html
compare it to sksysports’
And who told us arry rejected newcastle is a nob end
22 ChrisL // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:17
Thought the whole team were great except Geremi & Barton, both were very average.
Geremi’s dead balls are a constant disappointment (I know he’s got a hand-full of assists recently, but I wonder how many assists someone more able may have achieved).
Butt was my man of the match, closely followed by Owen, who’ll get the headlines. Butt made us look like we had a midfield in the first half!
23 ToonKing // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:27
solid win, not our best performance by far but we beat the scum and that’s what matters.
24 Michael // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:29
Not a classic Derby, nor a classic match for that matter, but 3 points are 3 points and I thought we thoroughly deserved them. At no stage did I feel that Sunderland would score. Such a massive change from when we were leaking goals from everywhere. You cant look further than Owen for man of the match purely because he scored the goals to win the game, but I thought Beye was excellent again and if Enrique gets forward a little bit more and him and Faye stop inviting pressure on us he’ll be a brilliant left back. Overall Im delighted with the result.
25 wsq // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:29
Ed, whenever i post a link it says spam.. this is so wrong.
26 Gilly // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:45
Result was everything…..performances they can wait for next season
27 mitch // Apr 20, 2008 at 16:50
Reid ate all the pies but I remember a great player at the toon called sumo who we remember with affection toon never got out of second gear but our captain was great and we deserve to win bragging rights restored fans as ever best in the world chops got reception he deserved traitor lol did anyone else think scum looked scared they did not like taking corners in th gallogate corner wonder why lol
28 HHmmmm // Apr 20, 2008 at 17:19
so, Ed, looks like Martins is playing better than could be required:
“On 68 minutes Damien Duff came on to replace Oba Martins”……”On 69 minutes Martins and Owen played a nice one-two 25 yards out and the Nigerian was suddenly in on goal.”
29 Obafan // Apr 20, 2008 at 18:44
Harper: very solid; is calm and made a great safe (Jones’ header)
Beye: pure class; I love his tackles always perfect on the ball.
Faye: solid
Taylor: very very good game; he starts to impress me
Enrique: is growing week after week
Geremi: one fantastic assist, for the rest he was average today
Butt: master of our midfield
Barton: average game (did not help Enrique much)
Owen: 2 goals => enough said (lucky with his bad penalty)
Viduka: works hard, but is IMO no involved enough
Martins: a bit disappointed in him; he looked selfish again and should have scored 1
Carrol: good 15 minutes; went after every ball
Duff: not much seen from him
Edgar: not enought ime to judge
I was pleased KK brought Edgar on for the last 5 minutes and not Smith.
Good first half performance, but the 2nd half is a half to forget. Sunderland is an average team and today I saw the worst player of the entire EPL: “MCSHANE”
30 Ed Harrison // Apr 20, 2008 at 22:55
HHhmmmmmmm - WHOOPS
31 brian // Apr 21, 2008 at 7:35
watching the crowd’s reaction to owen’s first goal was simply great
32 Leo // Apr 21, 2008 at 12:45
beat the scum bags, so funny i notice that there are less comments on the blog than usual after a game, i think tht is down to the fact that everyone was out on the town drinking and partying till late hours
was great fun
33 Scott Hodge // Apr 21, 2008 at 14:15
Great result, derbies are about results not performance. I felt the defence was very good today, my heart skipped a beat on 58 mins when the ball hit Taylor’s arm, credit to him though he played very well.I’m also glad KK brought Carroll and Edgar on, perhaps now he can see that both have ability and will have big futures at the club !
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