Another one for the Bensham Bomber.Apologies for tardiness but with one thing and another, I never got round to my “full report to follow” from last night’s report of the Newcastle v Coventry game. As a result I left out a lot of the gory details. No doubt you’ll have read other reports in the meantime but as I’ve not said much today, here’s what I thought…
Coventry City came to St James’ in some decent form but in all honesty never looked like they had much belief of getting anything out of the game. With Hughton reverting to the 4-4-2 formation that was so successful against Cardiff, but pairing Carroll with Lovenkrands instead of Best, there was a lot of promise of a repeat performance.
However, thirty minutes later and it looked like it might be a frustrating night with Guthrie’s blocked free kick from the edge being the closest we came to breaking the deadlock. Coventry set up stall and defended well and didn’t give us much of a sniff, although mercurial wing wizards Gutierrez and Routledge were just warming up their wands, so to speak. (more…)
Finishing touches!Just as the fans collectively ordered, we bounced back with a fairly emphatic 4-1 defeat of Coventry City. The Sky Blues barely turned up, and save for the obvious lead they took, Newcastle looked untroubled throughout. Solid performances from everyone in black and white but an inspired display from Routledge and Gutierrez was enough to undo them.
With a slightly uninspired first thirty minutes passing by without incident, Coventry created a chance out of nowhere and Clinton Morrison managed to get the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-0 and send the away fans ecstatic. Not prepared to let the Sky Blues build on a goal against the run of play, we fashioned a half chance which fell to Routledge, who hit superbly across the ball and volleyed into the bottom corner to level things.
It wasn’t long after the halftime break that Newcastle took the lead with a great little move started by Guthrie, who threaded the ball into the box for Nolan, and as the skipper cut the ball back with his left foot, Carroll couldn’t miss with his header. And 17 minutes later, a dubious penalty was awarded for a foul on Routledge, which resulted in a dismissal for a second yellow for the perpetrator. Lovekrands despatched the penalty with some authority. (more…)
