Safe! Newcastle United v Birmingham City match report.

Posted on May 8th, 2011 | 13 Comments |

With some slightly disappointing late season from an injury ravaged team, and tough encounters with Chelsea and a resurgent West Brom to complete our Premiership season, a victory and a few more points against Birmingham’s ‘Bluenoses’ would be just what the doctor ordered as they move towards the close season break.

This match saw Newcastle United fielding almost exactly the same team as they did against Liverpool in their last game, a 3-0 defeat for the Magpies. The only exception was Steven Taylor, replacing the injured cantre back, Mike Williamson, who broke his arm in training.

After kick off, the first few minutes saw the Magpies probing, and elbowing in the case of Steven Taylor on Birmingham’s Cameron Jerome. Referee, Chris Foy, seemed to be looking kindly on Newcastle’s seeming transgressions though, as he did when Birmingham appealed for a penalty after around ten minutes. It looked like a handball from Ameobi as Newcastle attempted to clear a Stephen Carr free kick from danger. Once again though, there was nothing doing from Foy.

It wasn’t until the 17th minute when United’s first real chance came with a low 30+ yard drive from Barton. It was hard to see if the shot was just wide, or if Ben Foster in the Birmingham goal just managed to tip it clear, but it was a good strike nonetheless. At this point in the game though, things were fairly lacklustre. Although the Magpies certainly had the lion’s share of the possession, they were not turing it into lots of real chances, or even better, goals.

It was on 35 minutes when the game finally turned, and very much in Newcastle’s favour as Chris Foy chose to be more generous in awarding Newcastle a penalty for handball than he was with Birmingham around twenty five minutes previously. There was also a straight sending off for the offending party, Liam Ridgewell, and the complexion of the game was completely changed after Shola Ameobi buried the resulting spot kick. In the run up to the penalty, a Barton corner found the head of the aforementioned Ameobi. His headed shot was cleared, only to fall to the feet of Coloccini, his shot was deflected on to the post, but he was to have another bite of the cherry as the ball rebounded for him to float in a header, only to see the ball cleared once again. It was in this melee that Foy spotted Ridgewell using his arm at least once, and after all the carnage was over, it was always going to be an uphill struggle from that point. 1-0 Newcastle United.

It’s usually a bad sign when your goalkeeper is the ‘man of the match’, and so it proved with Birmingham, especially from this point as Ben Foster produced some excellent saves. The first from Løvenkrands after a backheeled assist from Nolan let the Dane in for a shot at the near post, only to see it tipped away by the ex England shot stopper. A good, but slightly wide chance from Gutierrez followed shortly after, then another great save from Foster as an unmarked Nolan cracked off a forceful shot which was tipped over. The resulting corner finally had him beat though. Newcastle’s Steven Taylor leapt like a salmon for Barton’s set piece and plants the ball wide of Foster. Though Birmingham’s Sebastian Larsson was also prtecting the goal line, he couldn’t stop it going in either. 2-0 Newcastle United.

Though one would be forgiven for thinking that the game was well and truly over at this point, Birmingham’s Jean Beausejour and Lee Bowyer had other ideas though. A mere minute or two after Newcastle’s second, Coloccini missed his attempt to head the ball in what was a fairly bad error. This let Birmingham’s Beausojour in, who cleared Tim Krul in what was another mistake from the young ‘keeper, then unselfishly passed the ball for Bowyer to drill the shot home. 2-1.

After that burst of excitement in the last ten minutes or so of the first half, the second half was probably going to be something of an anticlimax, but it wasn’t without it’s moments. Newcastle carried on their momentum into the second half Jose Enrique hit another 30 odd yard drive (that was somewhat remiscent of Barton’s in the first half) just wide as Newcastle tried to press home their advantage in the opening minutes of the second half. A headed chance from Ameobi came a few minutes later, which went over.

Birmingham however, although penned back and mostly in defensive mode with only ten men on the pitch tried to hit back, once again with Magpies’ old boy, Bowyer. He couldn’t really get enough behind the ball though, and his shot was easily saved by Krul. In the 66th minute, one of Gutierrez’s mazy runs was crowned with a decent shot which was deflected.

A few minutes after that in a case of the pot calling the kettle black, Tiote expresses marked displeasure at a rather robust tackle from Bowyer which results in a yellow card for the ex Newcastle player. Nolan then came quite close in the 77th minute in what looks like a move that was rehearsed on the training ground, with Barton chipping a free kick in to the Newcastle captain, but his header across the face of goal was once again saved by the mighty Foster.

Despite Newcastle’s undoubted dominace wiith the extra man, Birmingham continued to fend off the Magpies. An even better chance from perennial late sub, Nile Ranger is once again saved by Foster, with a rebound to Ameobi also being blocked. With Birmingham looking somewhat shellshocked by now, they still managed to get in a rare chance of their own, with a long kick by Foster finding Beausejour on the flank. His ceoss should have been easily dealt with by a fairly inactive Krul, but he spilled it to let in Birmingham’s Sebastian Larsson. However his shot looped over the bar.

Finally, Birmingham’s Roger Johnson was forced to clear off the line from a cheeky chip by Ameobi, the fruits of a fairly admirable run in the box by Ranger, where he rescued a chance that looked like it was going nowhere initially. That was about it, except to say that Newcastle United’s survival in the Premiership was sealed beyond all doubt today, which is surely a cause for celebration!

Howay the lads!

Final score – Newcastle United 2 – 1 Birmingham City.

Newcastle United: Tim Krul, Jose Enrique, Fabricio Coloccini, Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Kevin Nolan, Jonas Gutiérrez, Cheick Tioté, Joey Barton, Peter Løvenkrands (Nile Ranger – 71), Shola Ameobi.

Birmingham City: Ben Foster, Martin Jiránek, Stephen Carr, Liam Ridgewell, Roger Johnson, Sebastian Larsson, Lee Bowyer, Keith Fahey (Matt Derbyshire – 77), Jean Beausejour, Barry Ferguson, Cameron Jerome.

Referee: Chris Foy.

Venue / Attendence:  St James’s Park, Newcastle, 47409‎.

Match highlights and post match interviews.

Match highlights. I shall endeavour to update these with longer and better ones when they are available.

Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, his team’s “character”, “resilience”, “discipline” and team spirit. He also hails the performance of Birmingham ‘keeper, Ben Foster for keeping his side down to two goals.

Birmingham City mamager, Alex McLeish, hold’s his hands up over the Ameobi penalty, and seems resigned to Ridgewell’s sending off, but bemoans some other big decisions which went against Birmingham. He also hails Ben Foster’s excellent performnace in the Birmingham goal.
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