89 mins: Speed unloaded the ball to Alan Shearer on the edge of the area and he promptly pulled the trigger, Matt Clarke's fingers igniting as he tried in vain to tip over the thunderbolt 2-0

Full time:  Magpies 2 Bantams 0

Sir Bobby said:
 
To follow

Paul Jewell:

To follow
 

Once again, Newcastle's pre-Wembley performance left rather a lot to be desired but at least we set off for the Twin Towers in something approaching form at least in terms of winning matches, if not in performance.

Certainly Wor Bobby could scarcely have asked for an easier league fixture as a precursor to the Semi-final, Paul Jewell's men well versed in the habits of losing away from Valley Parade. However he must be quietly concerned at the seeming inability of his side to remember exactly what it was that got them away from the twilight world now inhabited by their opponents.

Put simply, after the early corner that an unmarked Speed headed home unopposed, an almost total lack of guile exhibited by the lads meant that what should have been a stroll through to 4.50pm instead became a nervy afternoon of hanging on for the second - and clinching - goal. 

The fact that Bradford were rotten helped (so slow to cotton on that they allowed Lee to squirm free twice and get shots in on goal) but the half-pace of much of this passionless encounter lent it the air of a meaningless friendly match.

Certainly messrs Hughes and Ferguson seemed to think they were on their holidays, the Irishman dispensing loose balls to the opposition and the Scotsman wandering around wearily until a late flurry of activity saw him pop up with a brief dazzling cameo of wing play followed by a run and shot on goal. 

The home crowd for once raised their voices in an attempt to galvanise their heroes, but gradually clammed up as the second half wore on, and on.... 

It was left to birthday boy Dean Windass to inflame passions, as what looked like the boot of Speed caught him somewhere on the torso in a scuffle on the ground, and after laying motionless during treatment, the burly Bantam then treated us to his Tasmanian Devil impression. 

That was far more dangerous than his striking prowess, Jewell decidedly twitchy as he tried to placate Windass on the sidelines. This little spat was enough to wind the crowd up and the Bradford players, who spent the rest of the game trying to claim a piece of Speed's legs for their own. 

The Welshman responded by playing a succession of first-time balls, each accompanied by a little turn and jump, just in case potential injury was lurking...

It's strangely predictable that the best performances came from the two players genuinely unsure of their final places - messrs Goma and Helder. Suffice it to say that a genuine bit of competition in the squad in other areas might have livened up the performance of one or two our lot. 

The late appearance of the Georgian meanwhile was as much of a non-event as the naming of Silvio Maric on the bench was baffling.

It's not enough to say that the result was paramount; Bobby's two predecessors saw their charges coast down the slope towards Wembley, only to find in the unforgiving glare of the spotlight that they couldn't raise themselves when a nation expected... 

The players who have been there before meanwhile are reprising the "doing it for the fans" line, while the same old faces are dug up for newspaper previews, but has anything really changed?

Ask me next Sunday night, but I'm not overly optimistic.

Biffa