Never in the history of Newcastle United can so much be owed by so many to one so bald (except maybe Jim Iley in 1965, but I digress..) Temuri Ketsbaia ensured that the whole of Tyneside had Georgia on their mind as he saved frazzled black and white fans from an inevitable penalty shoot out collapse last night in Zagreb...

Right, tabloid type toss over, what was it really like ?

Pre-match media scare-mongering meant only around 500 Newcastle fans journeyed to Croatia, around 120 independently including Keith "big flag" Barrett on his ten-seater rock star bus and most of the rest on the official club flight that left Newcastle at 8am. Spirits were high and the bar did good business before departure in clear skies, destination Zagreb. 

A police-escorted bus convoy got us into the city centre around noon and the afternoon was free for wandering around the clean and pleasant streets, avoiding the trams. Most of the bars and cafes took advantage of the fine warm weather by putting tables outside and the local brews were around a quid a bottle.

As the afternoon wore on more and more "bad blue boys" appeared in the main square of the city (presumably when they finished school) many with painted faces, dyed hair and scarves on their wrists. Oddly enough, our old blue away shirt and old home shirts with "Ferdinand" printed on were much in evidence, some judicious swapping obviously having gone on. Bootleg t-shirts with the first leg ticket printed on were also popular items with the locals.

Around 17:30 the buses took those that wanted a lift to the ground, which was located in the Eastern suburbs of the city. Despite being over two hours from kick off the ground was already over half full, and the whole Croatian army appeared to be waiting for us outside the away end. 

However, despite the heavy police and army presence the atmosphere was still good-natured apart from the turnstile stewards who tried to nick everyones' coins for "security reasons." Unsurprisingly they were given short shrift.

As kick off approached, the now packed crowd were stoked up further by the Croatian Lindisfarne, who mimed a few tuneless ditties (badly) on the pitch, to the accompaniment of a swooping helicopter. Beer was being sold openly around the ground but the four portaloos set aside for travelling fans were somewhat oversubscribed. 

To a loud chorus of boos, the big flag was unfurled but our pitch side paddock proved too small to show it off fully. The large scoreboard showed various pictures of the crowd including a classic shot of "expert" summariser Ian St.John picking his nose and the tannoy played quite the worst version of "Walking on Sunshine" I have ever heard.

Once the game got underway both sides struggled to gain the upper hand, and Given made a couple of vital saves as Zagreb swarmed forward. Newcastle defended in numbers. relying on upfield balls to Tino and Tomasson with varying degrees of accuracy, and were forced to substitute the injured Pearce after 25 minutes with Howey replacing him. Sharp eyed TV viewers may have spotted Tommy Burns hiding among the photographers, apparently taking notes. Luckily for United, Tino got away with a definite forearm smash on a Zagreb player, retaliating for an earlier unpunished hoofing. 

As half time approached the general comfortable feeling in the Newcastle contingent was replaced by cockiness as Tino found Tomasson who was felled in the box to win a penalty on half time. Tino converted it comfortably and the goal and sending off of Juric inflamed the home fans generally, the stand behind the visitors enclosure threw objects onto the Newcastle fans, at least two of whom had stitches inserted in head wounds at half time. The large security presence did nothing.

Back underway again, and Zagreb got some reward for their pressure when an equaliser came just before the hour. However, with United still one ahead on aggregate and with a numerical advantage, we still seemed to be in the driving seat to take the tie. The locals continued to jeer Swiss referee Meier and made monkey noises whenever Tino came near the ball, which he did more and more as our extra man allowed us space and time in front of Zagreb's goal. 

Unfortunately chances went begging, notably from Pistone and Tino (twice) and seasoned toon watchers started to sense an old script being dusted off..... The struggling Beresford went off before the hour to be replaced by the spineless and generally dreadful Gillespie and he gave away the free kick from which Zagreb scored, a well placed header from Simic. Cue another bout of missile chucking and spitting, who says punk rock is dead ?

As the minutes went by Newcastle continued to spurn opportunities to finish the tie and Zagreb continued to threaten in a fairly unconvincing manner. The referee managed to find some injury time from somewhere and almost inevitably Zagreb scored to force extra time, Gillespie mincing about upfield and Pistone losing the ball to Cvitanovic who beat Given from the edge of the box. Within ten seconds the whistle went leaving the travelling fans totally stunned, some of whom had even celebrated thinking an infringement right before the goal was the fulltime whistle. Inevitably the home fans went bananas and many flares were thrown onto the pitch, allegedly at a cost of five grand per flare in fines.

Extra time seemed to follow a predictable pattern with Asprilla missing another chance and Given pulling off the save of the match from the dangerous Prosinecki. In the second 15 minutes most of the travelling fans managed to rouse themselves from the depths of despair to cheer on the lads, but I reckon a penalty disaster was looming pretty large. Just when all seemed doomed, and the referee was on the verge of blowing, Tino fed the sub Ketsbaia who blasted the winner and left the home players sprawled across the pitch in despair. Manic celebrations followed, led by Barton once the whistle blew seconds later and the home fans melted away quietly.

The jubilant travellers were eventually let out of the ground and after further delays were escorted back to the airport, past groups of sullen Croatians giving the universal one fingered salute but fortunately not trying to put the bus windows out. The fact that policemen were situated at virtually every corner may have calmed local passions. Once at the airport, a scrum around the only thing open, a coca cola machine, was halted when somebody managed to jam his money in and leave many thirsty and frustrated travellers. Luckily we were rewarded with a complimentary mini tin of beer on the return flight to celebrate, the outward leg having been "dry" unless you are partial to a drop of perfume. The conquering heroes eventually touched down on Tyneside at 02:30, and people were hanging around to welcome the team back as we swaggered off to the car park which was incidentally was full of rabbits (honest !)

All in all a great trip to a reasonably nice place, with fairly friendly but excitable locals. The football ? well, yet another example of the teams unfailing ability to drag you from the heights of ecstasy to the depths of despair, often within seconds. As Bobby Moncur said in 1969, "It was a balmy balmy night" and one destined to be remembered along with Victoria Setubal and Antwerp. My only regret is that the water cannon next to us was never turned on the missile throwers....

Biffa