Toon Romp Past The Horsemen

Newcastle were straight out of the stalls in Baku, unseating the Qarabag Horsemen with a goal inside two minutes and going five lengths clear at the end of a blistering first half that left the Geordie fans jumping over fences in the away end.

Four goals from Anthony Gordon including two clinically despatched penalties - one after he was unseated by the Qarabag keeper and a towering header from Malik Thiaw - saw Newcastle romp past the winning post in the play off tie after just 45 minutes.

The Horsemen had been well and truly whipped by the thoroughbreds from Eddie Howe's SJP stable. The second half was played at a canter as the jockey's in black and white gave themselves an easy ride to conserve energy for the race at the Etihad.

Three Away Games Won On The Trot

Before our last three outings the bookies were giving big odds on Newcastle beating Spurs, Aston Villa and Qarabag away.

The treble odds were even greater than when Foinavon won the Grand National as a 100/1 outsider and if only I'd put my usual fiver on that bet I could have bought our lass a new hoover for her birthday.

Instead, she'll have to do with a new pan and brush after my 3-0 bet fell early in the race to the last 16 of the Champions League.

Eddie Gets His Tactics Spot On Again

My take in the match preview was that our pace and quality up front could unseat Qarabag but Eddie's tactic of playing a front three of Barnes, Gordon and Elanga was a masterstroke.

We literally made the home team look like a pub side in the first half and, but for some superb saves from their keeper, it could have been a double figure lead by half time.

To their credit Qarabag never caved in and in the second half they showed some of the form that has given them wins against Benfica, Frankfurt and Copenhagen.

The one downside is that Eddie didn't give some of the young players a run out in the last fifteen minutes to give a few of our first team players an early finish, and the young lads the memory of making their debut in the Champions League.

Sean Neave was the only one to get on the pitch and with a little more fortune could have scored a debut goal.

However...

There can be no complaints after a 6-1 away win in the Champions League.

How many teams have done that?

We won't find the going as easy against City.

We might have to settle for a 5-1 win :)

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