A damp squib! Newcastle United 3 – 3 West Brom. Report, highlights and interviews.
Posted on May 23rd, 2011 | 52 Comments |
There was also the chance for West Brom to complete a top flight double over the Magpies for the first time since the 1977/8 season. Roy Hodgson seemed to be up for a game too, naming an almost full strength side for the game. Newcastle’s injury woes continued too, as Jonas Gutierrez wasn’t able to make the teamsheet with a thigh injury picked up in the previous draw against Chelsea, and midfield miscreant, Cheick Tiote rested lest he pick up yet another card. Leon Best, who was thought to be out for the rest of the season after undergoing an ankle operation was a surprise inclusion on the bench though. Despite their almost full strength side, West Brom were poor in the first half, leavibng Newcastle coasted to an easy 2-0 lead in the first half.
Despite this though, West Brom’s Marc-Antoine Fortune did threaten the Newcastle goal with an early chance. Jose Enrique lost possession with a careless pass which was intercepted by the Baggies’ Somen Tchoyi. He found Marc-Antoine Fortune in space, with Fortune eventually cracking off a low shot which Steven Taylor only just managed to clear off the line.
However the score eventually strted to reflect the balance of early play when once again, it was Steven Taylor, at the other end this time, who became a Magpie hero after only 16 minutes. After a Ryan Taylor corner in the sixteenth minute, an abject West Brom defence seemed incapable of clearing the ball from their box despite several opportunities. Eventually, after some good work from Newcastle’s Peter Lovenkrands, Steven Taylor somehow managed to bundle in what was a very scrappy goal for the home side. Newcastle United 1 – 0 West Bromwich Albion.
With the first goal in, Newcastle looked to be cruising to a comfortable victory already in what was a very poor display for the visitors. Indeed, the Magpies should have doubled their lead in the 35th minute with a chance which was very similar to the West Brom one mentioned above. After an Ameobi effort which was wide, this time it was Chris Brunt making the somewhat careless clearence, only for the ball to hit one of his own men and falling fortunately for Shola Ameobi. The Fenham Eusebio did well to get past Scott Carson in the Baggies’ goal, however Abdoulaye Meite was on hand to play the Steven Taylor role, making a clearence just off the line.
West Brom’s luck was about to run out however. After a period of great pressure from the hosts, with chances by Guthrie and Taylor, a poor defensive header from Meite enbled Lovenkrands to cut through their centre backs and shoot at Carson from very close range. The goalkeeper managed to parry the ball, pushing it into in the air, but failed to stop it crossing the line, and referee, Mark Halsey. gave the goal. Newcastle United 2 – 0 West Bromwich Albion.
After the half time interval came and went, with West Brom’s Meite making way for Pablo Ibáñez from the bench, it was practically no time until the visitors conceeded a third goal. Jonas Olsson, a Viking monster who was something of a scourge to Newcastle United in the Championship, tried to pick up an Enrique cross into the box. He sliced it straight past Carson in the West Brom goal. Newcastle United 3 – 0 West Bromwich Albion.
It seemed like the game was over at this point. Surely this third self inflicted blow would crish the spirit of the West Brom side? Anyone who might have thought so would have probably forgotten about our own miraculous recovery against Arsenal earlier in the season though, from an even higher deficit too. So it was that the Baggies started on their own miraculous recovery.
Resting on their laurels, the Magpies started to slow the game down to a snail’s pace as the second half progressed, allowing the visitors to claw their way back into the game. West Brom were resurgent as the pace slowed and finally, their chances started to come. After another West Brom substitution (Thorne replacing Sharner), West Brom looked like they were truly back in the game. Finally, a long ball from Steven Reid connected with new sub, 18 year old youngster, George Thorne. In turn, he put Somen Tchoyi through, beating Newcastle’s off side trap and leaving him with an chance to easily slot the ball past a slipping Krul in the Magpies’ goal. Newcastle United 3 – 1 West Bromwich Albion.
West Brom continued with their resurgency, with the subs proving to be a great success, paticularly young Thorne, who proved to be something of a ‘thorne’ (sorry) in the sides of the Magpies after his introduction. However the Magpies were still two goals to the good with 70 minutes gone and it still seemed likely that they would see it through for a great 3 point season finale at St James’s. It was at this stage that Alan Pardew decided to make some substitutions of his own for Newcastle, with Kazenga Lua Lua being the first (coming on to replace Shane Ferguson) after 64 minutes. Newcastle’s remaining two goal cushion was to be further eroded in the 72nd minute though, with Steven Reid once again being the one to get the ball, a whipped cross this time, into the danger area. After glancing Olsson’s head, Somen Tchoyi was once again there to collect the ball, deftly cutting inside Fabricio Coloccini before letting off an effort which powered it’s way into the top corner of Newcastle’s goal. Game on! Newcastle United 3 – 2 West Bromwich Albion.
The Magpies were really under threat now from a much improved West Brom side, who were certinly the better team at this stage of the game. A few minutes after the Baggies’ second goal, Pardew decided that more subs were the order of the day, bringing on Leon Best for Danny Guthrie and we saw Alan Smith making a return from long term injury, with Peter Lovenkrands making way for the more defensively minded midfileder. The Magpies continued to hold out until the 90th minute, despite alot of pressure from the visitors, it looked like Newcastle were just going to hold on and end the season on a high note. It was not to be though. In the final few seconds of normal time, when they just had to hold out a few moments longer, the Magpies’ defence seemed to completely switch off. When Olsson crossed the ball from the left flank into the box, Tchoyi, who had already scored two goals for the vistors was left completely unmarked by a sleeping Toon defence. Hence, he found ample space to lunge at the ball with his head, making it look easy to get the ball past Krul and into the Newcastle net.
In that moment, a top ten finish was wrested from the beaks of the sleeping Magpies, and if there were to be any further goals, it would probably have resulted in a stunning victory for the visitors. What should have been a great finale to Newcastle’s return to the Premiership ended as something of a damp squib! Final score: Newcastle United 3 – 3 West Bromwich Albion.
St James’s Park, Newcastle 22 May 2011.
Newcastle United: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Jose Enrique, Ryan Taylor, Joey Barton, Danny Guthrie, Shane Ferguson, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi.
Subs: Ranger, Soderberg, LuaLua, Tavernier, Kuqi, Smith, Best.
West Brom: Scott Carson, Steven Reid, Abdoulaye Meite (Pablo Ibáñez – HT), Jonas Olsson, Nicky Shorey, Chris Brunt, Youssuf Mulumbu, Paul Scharner, Somen Tchoyi, James Morrison, Marc-Antoine Fortune
Subs: Ishmael Miller, George Thorne, Gonzalo Jara, Jerome Thomas, Boaz Myhill, Pablo Ibáñez, Simon Cox.
Referee: Mark Halsey
Goals: Newcastle United 3 – 3 West Bromwich Albion.
Newcastle: Taylor (19), Peter Lovenkrands (39), Jonas Olsson (OG 47)
West Brom: Somen Tchoyi (62, 71, 90.)
Match highlights and post match interviews.
Match highlights.
Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, speaks of “top quality signings” for next season.
West Brom manager, Roy Hodgson,, also looks forward to finding some new recruits for next season.
Poll.
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
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