Archive for tag: Newcastle United v Aston Villa match report.

Taking Papiss! Newcastle United 2, Aston Villa 1.

February 7th, 2012 | 65 Comments |

Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse prostrate themselves.
919 - The number of the best?
Venue: St James’Park, NE1.
Date: 5th February 2012
Kick Off: 1.30pm
Referee: Mark Halsey.

Well, it was another three points in the bag for the Magpies as they passed the supposedly “magical” 40 point mark, with no less than 14 games of the Premiership season to go. Apart from this though, the most obvious salient point of this game was the debut of our second Senegal sharp shooter, Papiss Cisse, who took a mere 72 minutes to open his account for Newcastle United in spectacular style.

Starting the game on the bench, with Leon Best starting upfront alongside Demba Ba, it was expected that he would be given a run out some time in the second half just to get acclimatised for a probable start in the next game. However, assuming that was the general idea, and I think it’s safe to assume that it was, the plan had to be brought forward significantly when Leon Best was blocked from taking a shot by Villa’s Stephen Warnock. Best’s leg awkwardly struck Warnock’s blocking lower leg instead of the ball, with the striker picking up a Warnock knee knock in the process. Eleven minutes and he was out as Alan Pardew faced a very tough call, whether to select Cisse or Fenham’s very own goal machine, Shola Ameobi, as they both warmed up on the touchline. Of course, the Silver Supremo would have probably been flayed alive if he didn’t stick with the script, albeit with the star of the show taking his call earlier than expected.

First half (more…)

Aston Villa v Newcastle match report, highlights and post match interviews.

April 11th, 2011 | 4 Comments |

James Collins seals the win for Villa.
James Collins seals the win for Villa.
As the teamsheets were read out and the players prepared for action, there was news that Shola Ameobi would not be playing, not even on the bench. Subsequently it turned out that he had picked up a knee injury on the morning of the game. It also became apparent that Alan Pardew would be using Fabricio Coloccini in a defensive midfield role today due to the ravages of injuries and suspensions in midfield. So it was that Ranger got his first Premier League start, alongside Peter Lovenkrands at the front.

To the game itself. Newcastle kicked off, there were a one or two chances including an excellent cross from Jose Enrique found an galloping, unmarked Joey ‘best English midfielder’ Barton in the area. However it was a fairly low headed chance which he ballooned over the goal. Another real chance came around the nine minute mark when Newcastle broke with Ranger. However, instead of doing the decent thing and squaring the ball to an unmarked Lovenkrands for what could have been a much better opportunity, he took a heavy first touch, ending up launching a fairly tame effort at Brad Friedel in the Villa goal. (more…)