Subs Not Used: Davison, Westwood, Blake, Whalley
Booked: Lawrence, Saunders.
Sent off: None.

NUFC: Harper, Barton, Shearer, Speed, Solano (Dyer 70 mins), Hughes, Ferguson, Gallacher (Glass 73 mins), Pistone, Lee (Fumaca 84 mins), Helder.

Subs Not Used: Given, Ketsbaia
Booked: Helder
Sent off: None.

Referee:  Neale Barry (Scunthorpe) Another man who seems unable to comprehend the word consistency. Gave what is possibly the worst non-decision of the season by failing to award Shearer a free kick, as he was bundled off a goalbound run. The only decision was for a red or yellow card to be brandished at the home transgressor, but Mr Barry airily waved play on as even the Bradford players paused, expecting the worst. However, he was bang on not to give Solano a penalty seconds later when he theatrically tumbled rather than cross the ball, and should really have been booked. A poor effort from the Peruvian, that he's tried more than once in away games this year.

Goals:

56 mins. A long ball from a Bradford player seemed to have been over hit and the visiting players were content to let it roll over the byline. Not so Lee Mills, who sprinted forward and just managed to centre it across to the oncoming Dean Saunders who simply popped it in the net. 0-1.
71 mins. Free kick from the left at the old home "kop" end. Played long   by Sharpe and swung over on to the head of David Wetherall, who looped it back into the opposite corner over Harper. Speed blamed for not picking up his man. 0-2.

Waffle:  

Now is the season to be generous, apparently. The usual achilles heel of Xmas returned with a vengeance at Valley Parade, and our perennial Yuletide profligacy was all too evident. How Alan Shearer must wish he'd saved one or two of those five goals against Sheffield Wednesday for dark days such as this.....

Just as Newcastle were rightly praised for their fighting qualities in recent outings against Spurs and Roma, so they should be pointed at, called names and generally abused for letting this one slip away. Most of the fight they showed was unfortunately amongst themselves, with Ferguson howling in frustration at Solano and Pistone for their inept attempts at finding men in a black and white shirt when United had fallen behind. Hopefully Big Dunc also took time out to chastise himself for some rotten lapses during the afternoon, culminating in a bad miss in the final minutes, power and frustration being shown when a calm finish would have halved the deficit.

It would be unfair however to load the blame solely on the big man: his first half header planted against the crossbar was the pick of a number of good chances that weren't converted, a rare run and shot from Helder also being of note. By contrast, the big Scotsman's so-called striking partner Shearer didn't even manage to overly tax the home fans' mastery of insults by barely being involved for the first hour. If anyone can see signs of an understanding between him and Dunc please write and point out my optical shortcomings. Gallacher by contrast probably had his best game for the club (admittedly not a great achievement) and showed signs of linking up with Pistone down one flank while Solano and Barton mirrored this on the other. Sadly however, this wasn't profitable and as the winter sunshine diminished, so did the contribution of Gallacher and the Peruvian. Once the width goes, so does a lot of our positive play, and it was noticeable that Pistone and Barton were pushing up further and further in the second half to no good effect, a succession of poor crosses succeeding only in their being well out of position when inevitable counter attacks ensued.

The late introduction of Dyer and Glass didn't really help, Dyer being on the pitch only seconds before the second goal went in and Glass not seeing a great deal of the ball until the frantic last minutes. Vocal support to the Newcastle team, which had been constant without being earshattering gradually dried up, and more than one or two made an early departure. The home fans of course, loved it. Each goal was greeted with wide-eyed astonishment by some of their number, and scenes of players and fans embracing that would have been more in keeping with an FA Cup tie. The City fans took special joy from the second clinching goal, unveiling a "Rodney, You Plonker" banner and loudly enquiring as to whether SKY "expert" Rodney Marsh was tuning in. Evidently Rodders had made them relegation certainties....

To sum up, Bradford could barely believe their luck, on an afternoon when they had looked to be collectively bricking it from the first whistle and ready to meekly surrender. They seemed to believe the publicity about resurgent Newcastle, unfortunately so did Robson's boys. The reaction of the players to something of a humiliation should be interesting, whether Tottenham will get the backlash remains to be seen.

With the benefit or post-match hindsight and drink, this result and performance was certainly out of kilter with our recent resurgence, but to the half-trained eye, Shearer looks back almost to the sulky figure he was before Bobby came to town. Time for some fatherly advice from the old master to the young pupil methinks. As for the rest of them, getting taken down a peg or to is no bad thing - we are not as big and clever as we'd like to believe.... 

PS: Most bizarre announcement of the season. A second half weather forecast / traffic bulletin from the PA man directed at the Newcastle fans. We were informed that there was some snow on the A1 but it was either clear or closed, depending on how you interpreted the muffled final word. Whether this was at Biggleswade or Berwick wasn't mentioned......