Carroll lands sucker punch! Doncaster 0 Newcastle 1
Posted on March 23rd, 2010 | 109 Comments |
Even though he included Carroll in his starting eleven, Hughton was forced into several other changes. Jose Enrique had a niggle from his previous hamstring injury and Ryan Taylor came in at right back, with Danny Simpson switching to left back. Tamas Kadar came in for Fitz Hall, who limped out of the Bristol City game and Hughton also opted for a 4-4-1-1 formation with Kevin Nolan playing off Andy Carroll, Leon Best making way for Nicky Butt, who partnered Guthrie in the middle of the park.
It it was a fairly frenetic first half with both sides creating chances, Billy Sharp spurning good opportunities to give Doncaster the lead. While Andy Carroll at the other end, had a half chance to make it 1-0. Doncaster played some slick stuff as expected but the play was fairly even and flowed back and forth up until half-time. The striker’s inclusion no doubt raised many an eyebrow amongst the travelling support and those listening at home. But in a second half which had less clear cut chances, it was Carroll who stepped up to the plate to justify his place in the team. Wayne Routledge was the creator for the second game in a row, but this time it was a much harder finish and when Carroll went round the keeper, he still had a lot to do but finished in style for his 16th goal of the season.
At the other end, Harper collected his 19th clean sheet of the season, a Newcastle United record. But that was almost ruined when the keeper spilled the a shot from Woods, only for the finshed rebound from Sharp to be ruled offside. And with Doncaster inevitably pressing for an equaliser, Hughton brought on Joey Barton for Guthrie but the returning midfielder struggled to make an impact. Pancrate later coming on for Routledge, as Newcastle saw out yet another crucial victory away from home.
Much is still be decided about ‘Glassjawgate’ (I borrowed that from dingo by the way), and the next few days will be full of more rumour and fact, in equal measures. However, for now we can reflect on a great result from a tricky fixture. In difficult circumstances, with the potential for the players to get distracted from the job in hand, Chris Hughton kept his troops focused, made some tough decisions and they paid dividends. As for Andy Carroll, he could end up playing the baddy in a new Rocky film in future and he may get a spell behind bars but having put us another three points closer to promotion, we’ll leave the judgements for another day, when we have all the facts, because for the time being the winner is in the black and white corner.
Us – Harper, R. Taylor, Coloccini, Kadar, Simpson, Routledge, Butt (c), Gutierrez, Guthrie, Nolan, Carroll.
Subs – Krul, Enrique, Barton, Best, Pancrate, Ranger, Tozer.
Doncaster Rovers – Sullivan, Hayter, Roberts (c), Oster, Chambers, Woods, Martis, O’Connor, Sharp, Shiels, Wilson.
Subs – Smith, Mutch, Thomas, Hird, Spicer, Lockwood, Mc Daid.
NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag
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