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Referee: David Elleray.

Teams: 

NUFC (normal home with white socks): 
Given, Barton, Hughes, Goma, Domi, Dyer, Solano, Speed, Cordone (Coppinger 79 mins), Glass (Griffin 74 mins), Shearer.
Subs n/u: Harper, Charvet, Gavilan.

Booked: None.
Sent Off: None.

THFC (white shirts, white shorts and dark blue socks): 
Sullivan, Carr, Freund, Campbell, Perry, Anderton, Sherwood, Iversen (Ferdinand 40 mins), Rebrov, Leonhardsen (Young 71 mins), Thatcher (Taricco 71 mins)
Subs n/u: Walker, Clemence. 

Booked: None.
Sent Off: None.

Goals:

9 mins. An Aaron Hughes ball forward fell perfectly for the on-rushing Speed. Quite how he stayed onside and received the ball 15 yards clear of any defenders is questionable but quite frankly, who cares? Sullivan came out and made a half-hearted attempt to block Speed's lob and the ball dropped perfectly into the empty net. 1-0
66 mins. Build up down the right eventually saw Dyer play in Solano. Once more the cross was poor but it fell nicely via the hand of Sullivan for Cordone to crash the ball in left-footed. 2-0

Match facts:

Largest attendance for any match at St.James' Park since 18.2.76 (Bolton in the FA Cup 52,760) and for a league match since 26.12.73 (Leeds 55,638.) Beat last Wednesday's dubious official attendance by 246, despite previously a empty section being well populated - all decidedly fishy. 
Senior Debut of Jamie Coppinger coming on as a 79th minute substitute.
Number of fans to watch NUFC so far this season (three games): 170,377 (an average of 56,792)


They said: 

Miserable Scot and always-a-Gooner George said: 

“Before the game I really fancied our chances, more so than the last couple of times I have been here.

We put in a good performance at Middlesbrough in midweek - but you cannot give teams a leg up in the first 10 minutes like we did. I thought especially at 2-0 down, we changed formation and looked good but just did not look like scoring.

But you've just got to look at Bobby Robson's pedigree. That's enough.

He has done it all at every level in so many different countries, and it has not taken him long to get Newcastle United organised."

Former United trainee Graham commented on the rebuilt SJP:

"The stadium is now fabulous. Certainly it's a bit different from the time I used lap the ground with the likes of Ivor Allchurch, Lennie White, Alf McMichael and Ronnie Simpson."

We said:  Uncle Bobby commented: 

About Cordone and the operation to have his soldered-on earrings removed; 

“It's made him lighter. He was carrying too much gold around with him - he's put on half-a-yard of pace."

"We have to take him for what he is, which is a pure attacker. He's not going to defend that much for us. But get the ball to his feet and he's a bit mustard. He's disappointed because when Nol Solano hit the bar in the second half and the ball came back to him he had a bit more of the goal to shoot at than he thought. I'll get my Spanish phrasebook out and tell him that was a poor miss but I'm very satisfied with him. He can be a special player for us." 

"At one stage he was going to wear moulded rubbers. I told him not to be so stupid and that this is England. The pitches are greasy and you need to get a grip."

Turning to the centre of defence, Robson praised Goma:

"We needed Goma because we've lost Marcelino and Dabizas for a minimum of two months each, and he had one of his best games in a black and white shirt."

Waffle: 

Brick by brick, what Bobby calls Fortress St.James' is taking shape. Since he joined United exactly a year ago, 23 teams have lined up against us on our home ground, and only two have left Tyneside with the victory. The Premiership champions were famously dispatched 3-0, whilst determined performances ensured Liverpool and Leeds had to be content with a mere point and mighty Roma were battled to a standstill.

During that twelve months, Tottenham have wobbled up the A1 three times, and to the great delight of the 120,000 or so black and whites on hand to witness, have shipped ten goals in their trio of defeats. This latest victory encapsulates what football at St.James' Park should be all about - big name, big money, big reputation players being humbled by the toon, playing football stirring enough to lift supporters out of their seats and rediscover their vocal chords.

Suddenly it's all gone right. Players who seemed positively moribund on Wednesday reacted well to the appearance of Spurs on the Park, and recaptured some of the vigour of previous encounters. Our accumulation of injuries seemed to be temporarily halted, and what luck that was required saw the woodwork intervene twice and a United boot an equal number of times to deny the opposition the encouragement of a goal and a possible resumption of our defensive collywobbles.

Goma and Hughes in central defence seemed at last have a semblance of an understanding, the former perhaps finally waking up the fact that he has to impress fans and managers or he'll be remembered as our biggest Gallic flop since Guivarc'h (Perez not included.)

However, despite the goalscoring of Speed and Cordone, the real stars of the show were undoubtedly Dyer and Solano, who combined intelligently down the right flank in the second half, finding acres of space from which to torture the visitors. Dyer had played well throughout, but in the absence of Lee fulfilled a worthy role deeper infield during the first half. The Peruvian had also done his bit, but Dyer pressing forward into the Spurs half proved to be the catalyst for Solano to show exceptional passing and movement.

Alan Shearer searched in vain again for his 200th league goal, and looks less than happy with life at present. A combination of cold turkey from the international fixture calendar and continuing knee problems seem to be getting the lad down a bit, but he made more of a contribution to the team performance than against Derby, and had it not been for Solano's unwillingness to release the ball to him, could even have reached the magic 200. More than anyone else at the club, Shearer needs the ten day break before our next match to rest his sore limbs. Hopefully Coventry will again be made to suffer as a consequence. 

PS - Thank you to the ever-gracious Les Ferdinand, for acknowledging the ovation that greeted his second-half appearance and also for his applause of the home fans after the final whistle. His near-miss header at the Gallowgate end was also most welcome - he never used to miss many when he was going for goal down that end a few years ago.....   

Next we go to the scene of Bobby's blackest day in the last year, when a porous defence, ill-discipline from Barton and lunacy from a section of United fans ensured a thoroughly deserved 4-1 beating. After that, the then the London team we really do have unfinished business with, Chelsea, come to the toon. If we can survive and prosper through all that, we then of course troop down to the Dell for another ninety minutes of whatever brand of misery Glenn Hoddle can inflict on us. Even Bobby will have his work cut out to turn that one around. 

So, a great improvement from last Wednesday, but no reason to get excited yet....

RE: The Stadium:

Binoculars oot! Thanks to Colin H for this view from the Gods, formerly known as the Leazes End.

More reports on the new St. James' to follow.

Biffa