Toon go top thanks to balls, brilliance and best of luck.

Posted on November 2nd, 2009 | 51 Comments |

Sharp as a Blade tonight!
Sharp as a Blade tonight!
Once again, Newcastle United managed to leave us feeling slightly underwhelmed, and yet still went top of the league after taking all three points at Bramall Lane. The fact that we managed to grind out a 1-0 win against the red and white half of Sheffield was largely down to luck at their end, resilience at our’s and some brilliance from Stevie Harper.

After a fairly forgettable first half, in which Sheffield looked probably the more organised and potent force (though I use that term lightly). This despite their having several absences while we had generally a strong squad to pick from, though Hughton again left me scratching my head with his decisions. Not for the first time this season, the opposition seemed to move the ball sharper than us an didn’t look out of ideas once they crossed the halfway line. But for all their endeavour, the score remained 0-0 at half-time.

Newcastle came out and were the better side at the start of the second half and though there should have been a foul awarded as Kevin Nolan robbed Walker, Ryan Taylor nonetheless took full advantage and our second slice of luck was about to occur as his shot from 25 yards took a wicked deflection of Morgan, with Ian Bennett rooted to the spot in the Sheffield goal, the ball nestled into the far corner.

Sheffield threw everything but the kitchen sink at us in the dying minutes but we held on strongly due to resolute defending and some heroics in the goal from Harper. Five players can take a bow as having been the foundations of battling performance that meant we move back to the Championship summit – Harper for the display as mentioned, Enrique for just going from strength to strength, Coloccini for slotting straight back in and giving us solid-looking defence, Kevin Nolan for organising and keeping his head at crucial times, and finally Andy Carroll who played as well as I’ve seen him play in a Newcastle shirt.

Well we’ve done it again. At times we really were average and you can’t help but think that against a decent side we might come unstuck but it’s difficult to see which side will step up to the plate. So for now, we’ll take the three points thank you very much and just try to imagine what might happen if we actually start to play well.

Full match report to follow…..

Sheff Utd –

Bennett, Morgan, Kilgallon, Henderson, Evans, Harper, Stewart, Davies, Treacy, Quinn, Walker

Subs – Reid, Williamson, Bunn, Little, Camara, Cotterill, France

Us –

Harper, Simpson, Coloccini, Kadar, Enrique; R Taylor, Nolan, Butt, Smith, Gutierrez, Carroll.

Subs – Krul Guthrie, Geremi, Tozer, Donaldson, Ranger, Harewood

Att – 26,536 (with nearly 3,000 Mags there)

NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.

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Posted on by bowburnmag in category: Andy Carroll and Bowburn Mag and Chris Hughton and Fabricio Coloccini and Jose Enrique and Kevin Nolan and NUFC Match reports and Ryan Taylor and Steve Harper and Thoughts and reflections , with tags: , , , , , , ,
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51 Responses

  3. I thought we were lucky but they say the mark of a good team is that they still grind out a win when they’re playing crap.

    It’s 3 more points anyway.

  4. I thought it was a sterling performance from the lads. It is a tough place to go and they are a physical team. I thought we stood up to it tremendously well. Special mention has to go to Andy Carroll Jose Enrique Kevin Nolan and Stevie Harper, but a good all round team performance.

    I do not care if people think we were lucky it was three valuable points away from home.

    Howay the lads.

  5. carroll head and shoulders above the rest. Man o match!
    Jonas embarrassing again. Its clear hes lookin for a move cos no one would play that bad thro lack of skill.
    You say wot you stardust. Youre his biggest fan. Woo hoooo hoo hoo. Clueless stardust hasnt got a clue about anything.

  14. I think Tamas Kadar looked very good tonight. For someone making only his 3rd start he was very composed on the ball. I think he read the game better than Coloccini too.

  15. I like the idea worky. I think it’s a bit tricky though. You can’t tell whether you have bold or italics selected? And you seem to have to type and then highlight to change back?

  16. CLiNT FLiCK – I assume there may be a fix but for now, type it, highlight it and then click on the I.

  22. 14 Ever Seen a Mackem in Milan  – Yes agree with your comments regarding young Kadar.  After a shaky 10 minutes or so (when Enrique was helping him out) he grew in stature and had a great game.  Did you see him dribbling the ball out of defence like a midfielder midway through the second half? 
    He would be especially chuffed to have had a good game, as McCabe also owns Farencvaros, and Sheff Utd games are beamed over there, so his family would be able to see him play.

  27. its great this blog. Battys never had so many friends in his life. He never knew there were so many people in the world. Hes spent his whole life in solitary confinement in prison and now his house. He actually believes stardust is a real name. Woo hoo hoo hoo.
    Good to see wor cheryl has made a song against ashley. Fight for this club! , rory vasters, rosy starters, roy rasters, sorry vasetts.

  30. worky your a bigger mug than stardust. Are you trying to wind us up.
    I appreciate you are clueless but i feel you are messing us around?

  40. Just watched the game at Heathrow Airport before heading home,glad we got the 3 points but as said by others it was far from a classic and we did win “ugly” sometimes that is what it takes to get the job done.Been away for 8 weeks in Brazil and have been following the latest crap the FCB is trying to pull,I only have one question for you all,why is he still here? Is it not time we squeezed this dick head a little? In my humble opinion its time to stay away and hit him where it hurts,in his wallett, 44,000 for the doncaster game,yeah we are really showing our displeasure at Mein Fuhrer..not! I will be there protesting on Saturday.I wont be going in,I wont be buying pies and pints and I wont be in the club shop buying Ashleys crap for Christmas.Im making my stand my way,the only thing he might understand,witholding my money.I will just give my match cash to the NUST,something thats worth my hard eraned.

  42. That was a very shoddy performance by the team in general – Harper and Carroll being the exceptions. If we go up and there is no serious investment in the team then we’ll be straight back down. If Jonas wants away then his value must be decreasing exponentially with each match, and Butt could not get much worse if he played on one leg. Coloccini is just not performing like an Argentinian international – well apart from being exceptionally dirty and was lucky to stay on the pitch.

  43. Its a Salvador Dali print Troy,thanks for asking,its the Meditive Rose.Helps me stay calm while our club is ripped apart by the FCB and we all stand idly by and let him do it.we keep filling the stadium and he keeps filling his pockets!

  44. Sorry Troy,thought  nufc mogadisho was asking about my pic,I really need to pay attention or drink more coffee before I come on and tap the keys …lol

  45. gman
    fully behind your hate campaign. I hate the sit back and take it attitude, the battered wife syndrome. I will go to the match but it is too sing my heart out with anti ashley songs.
    Ive said it before. We are in the same situation as the late 70s . lack of investment results in fans dropping off in numbers, taking your stance. You then lose the power to protest. You must use your numbers to drive him out by sickening him with abuse. Until he reaches the point and thinks, its not worth the hassle and sells up at a cut down price.

  47. troy so are we gonna organise a mass protest if so ile get a few thou of me chava mates together ?

  48. Shit! we played like shit, we were very lucky and harper had the best game in his hall career and jonas is peice of crab tbh! sell the piece shit!

  49. the toon are carrying some luck,we are a terrible team to watch.
    sheff utd were unlucky and a draw would have been a fair result.
    i thought jose enrique was brilliant last night,the best footballing side ive seen in this league are qpr.
    in january newcastle should go after adil tarabt,he has some skills that lad,if we lose harewood does anyone think matty fyatt could do a job?
    if jonas was to leave,ive been impressed with the leicester wide man danny ngessun.

  50. Troy
    I can see where your coming from  and I have every respect for your stance,believe me when I say this but it breaks my heart to have to stand outside the club I love and not go in and watch Newcastle United.
    Maybe if we continue to give our useless dick of an owner total dogs abuse he may,just may decide to fold his tent and head South,but from what I have seen so far its highly unlikely to have the desired effect  mate,simply because he is enjoying being public enemy number one along with all the other tin pot Dictators out there.We have had some really bad  Chairman and owners but this guy takes the biscuit.Its not like the bad old days when we had a crap ground,a burger van run by Mr and Mrs fat and their fat  kids,and we were treated like cattle and herded in by the local plod!
    Times have changed since then but we are still being treated like crap,ridiculed by the press and laughed at by our Owner,he is laughing all the way to the bank because we continue to attend and  give him our cash to squirrel away for his retirement,
    We keep banging on about how we have to support the team,we supported this team last season and they let us down by under performing big style when it was needed most,Just for fun lets pretend we only get 10 thousand in the ground for the visit of Peterborough and we get beaten,is that down to us? or is it down to the players not being good enough? These are highly paid proffessional players, not kids from the local park or playground.I for one don’t think it should make a difference,im sure if Man U played in an empty stadium they would still win,their manager and pride would be all they needed to succeed.
    Give this fat gitt a wake up call and stay away,at least try and do someting,it beats the shit out of doing nothing lads
    Keep the Faith

  51. It just keeps getting better,Lambs Arse on Sky being interviewed by that muppet David Craig,they make a hell of  a double act,how nice it is knowing the club is in such safe hands.
    There going to leave in the St James Park bit of there future name deal,god I would dearly love a few minutes alone with him and the fat lad,makes your piss boil listening to the rubbish they spout.
     
    The 20 million is for wages etc,but if required there may be more to strtengthen in January,dare say there will have to be because my moneys on a bit more asset stripping if possible,get some journeymen in on peanuts etc etc.Im not so sure it will matter really because the way we are playing of late im not sure we will be in the hunt,
    Lets see what saturday brings,demos and stuff.We should beat the Posh but I wouldn’t bet on it,or any other result these days
     
    Keep the faith