Sunderland – The unhappy Halloweiners! Newcastle 5-1 Sunderland.
Posted on October 31st, 2010 | 88 Comments |
Whether it be the manner in which their team capitulated, or the fact that they lost so badly, or the fact that their team simply didn’t bother to turn up, there can be one thing that will be certain – the streets of Wearside will be full of froth and dribble this fine Halloween evening.
The headlines will no doubt be taken by captain Kevin Nolan who inspired the victory by bagging a hat-trick, so I thought I would take a different approach and put up a picture of Shola Ameobi as he bagged a brace in the game and continue his fine goalscoring run of form against The Mackems. Realistically though, there was an awful lot of good performances out there on the St James’ Park pitch today and each and every one of them can feel justifiably proud of their respective performances.
Chris Hughton, a target of ridicule from some fans and pundits throughout the week, made nine changes from the side that lost against Arsenal in the Carling Cup on Wednesday with the only survivors being Mike Williamson and Tim Krul. It was perhaps an unsurprising line-up that matched the side that won 2-1 at West Ham last weekend.
With the atmosphere in the stands reaching fever pitch the game kicked-off, and it was Newcastle who started off the brighter of the two sides. The home side went close to scoring through Andy Carroll and Joey Barton, who were both denied by Sunderland stopper Simon Mignolet.
But it was from the resultant corner that the deadlock was finally broken when central defender Mike Williamson got up well to head down Barton’s corner for Kevin Nolan who sent the ball into the roof of the net with an acrobatic overhead kick which sent the Toon Army into raptures.
Just eight minutes later it was 2-0. And it was that man Kevin Nolan again who controlled a wild Andy Carroll shot to finish cooly past Mignolet in the Sunderland goal. Nolan was unmarked in the middle of the penalty area as the Sunderland defence went missing, but he still had a lot to do and slotted into the back of the net with aplomb.
Pancake face Steve Bruce brought on Asamoah Gyan – Sunderland’s massive club record massive, huge signing – to try and liven up Sunderland as an attacking force. It didn’t work though and Shola Ameobi made it 3-0 before half-time from the penalty spot after Jonas Gutierrez was brought down in the box by Nedum Onouha.
It was turning out to be day to savour for the home faithful and one to forget for the away fans, although most of them disappeared at half-time, never to be seen again.
Those that did stay will have seen no real improvement from their side in the second-half as Newcastle continued to dominate proceedings despite another shuffle of the pack from Steve Bruce that saw Sunderland change formation to a more conventional 4-4-2 system.
The home fans, apready in superb voice, had yet more reason to cheer after 53 minutes when former Newcastle defender, Titus Bramble, saw red for bringing down Andy Carroll who was through on goal. Titus really gave us a glimpse of what we are missing, and to be fair he was getting tortured by Carroll and Shola Ameobi anyway and will probably be relieved that he was heading for an early bath.
Newcastle made it 4-0 on 70 minutes as Shola Ameobi bagged his second of the afternoon. Carroll thumped his header against the crossbar only for Amoebi to race on to the rebound and smash the ball into the back of the net.
The race for the match ball was on between Kevin Nolan and Shola Ameobi. And it was those two combined to score Newcaste’s fifth of the afternoon. Ameobi headed a corner across the face of the goalmouth which found the head of Kevin Nolan just two-yeards from goal where he applied the finish to ensure he became the first player for 25 years to score a hat-trick in a Tyne-Wear derby.
The twelve or so Sunderland fans who stayed seated until the bitter end saw their one-man-band-wagon, or Darren Bent as he is otherwise known, score a consolation goal for them just before the final whistle. It was a goal that Sunderland barely deserved in all honesty.
A great day to end the troubles of the last week and put a smile on the faces of Newcastle fans the world over.
Howay the lads!
Newcastle – Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton, Cheick Tiote, Kevin Nolan, Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi, Andy Carroll.
Subs – Ole Soderberg, James Perch, Ryan Taylor, Alan Smith, Wayne Routledge, Peter Lovenkrands, Nile Ranger.
Sunderland – Simon Mignolet, Nedum Onouha, Michael Turner, Titus Bramble, Phil Bardsley, Steed Malbranque, Jordan Henderson, Lee Cattermole, Ahmed Al-Muhammadi, Danny Wellbeck, Darren Bent.
Subs – Craig Gordon, Kieran Richardson, Paulo Da Silva, John Mensah, Anton Ferdinand, Bolo Zenden, Asamoah Gyan.
Attendance: 51,988.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Just watched Steve Bruce’s interview on the BBC site and he comes away from that with a massive amount of credit…no complaints about any decisions and best team won.
now……lets take the piss out of Makems every chance we get!! ;)