Crew Stadium - NLS' showpiece ground

A goal in each half from Carl Cort ultimately secured a draw for Bobby's men in the homely surroundings of Crew Stadium tonight, as Columbus and United shared four goals.

18,212 were on hand to see a 32nd minute Cort shot from six yards put the visitors ahead, finishing off a left-wing Hughes centre helped on by Gary Speed.

After a robust first minute challenge on Dyer by Chulis (who was yellow carded), the young midfielder lasted another sixteen minutes before being withdrawn. However this looked to be a precaution, given that the tackle seemed to catch him on the right ankle - the left one had kept him from training earlier in the week.

The usual plethora of half-time replacements for the visitors revealed no sign of Shearer, who watched proceedings from the relative safety of the press box. fans.

A fairly even game of relatively few chances saw a 57th Speed foul also punished by a booking (that may well count in domestic competition) but no great incidents until a 67th minute leveller. A ball into the heart of the Newcastle box caused both Howey and Dabizas to fandango around the ball like dancehall debutantes, leaving inexperienced striker Miles Joseph to amble though unopposed and knock the ball past a helpless Harper.

That looked to be the final action of consequence until the 84th minute, when Gavilan initiated an attack with a smart jink in the centre circle, before releasing the ball forward to Cort. The pass was intercepted by one-time Everton player Robert Warczycha, but he only managed to knock the ball into a more favourable position for our lanky new striker, and he strode forward before passing the ball efficiently into the net from just inside the box.

However, defensive frailties throughout the whole team led directly to an instant equaliser, as Crew players Cunningham and Joseph charged forward from the restart and bulldozed their way straight to the United box. Cunningham then threaded the ball under Harper and into the net, before vaulting the advertising hoarding and celebrating with the mini Columbus choir behind the goal. The Newcastle players simply looked embarrassed, while manager Robson turned his head away. Methinks a few choice words were being composed for his post-game debrief...

So, two games played and three goals scored, all from new signings, but old familiar problems for the manager to ponder. The central defensive partnership is still no nearer being decided, and on this evidence, a mackem and a greek aren't the right blend. In midfield, Bassedas again seemed to be playing well within himself before departing with a foot injury, but Robert Lee looked to come through his stint without a problem. Given the disjointed nature of the side, this game was certainly an improvement on the DC showing, but seemed a million miles away from the commitment required for a league campaign.

Easy to say that it's only a meaningless friendly, but we said that last year after underwhelming displays at Reading, Celtic and Dundee United - and look what happened once hostilities began...

NUFC: Given (Harper 46 mins) Barton, Goma (Dabizas 46 mins), Howey, Lee (Gavilan 76mins), Dyer (Gallacher 17 mins), Bassedas (McClen 46 mins), Speed, Cort, Cordone (Glass 76 mins), Hughes (Griffin 46 mins)  

Tactical note: Barton played at right full back for the first half, switching to left back at half time to allow Griffin to appear on the right. In view of the continued uncertainty over the availability of Domi, maybe Bobby had one eye on the candidates to start at left back...   

PS - A note about the attendance. The 18,000 + figure didn't seem to reflect the actual number in the ground - there looked to be far more than 4,000 empty seats. Possibly a bit of one upmanship by the Crew, who crowed post-match that they'd beaten the crowd for our DC game. Seemingly those season ticket holders who didn't return their tickets were counted as attending, even though they weren't actually present.

Biffa

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