Newcastle United Football Club - Match reports

Season 2003-04
Chelsea (h) Premiership

Date: Sunday 25th April 2004, 2pm
Live on Sky Sports

Venue: St.James' Park

Conditions: Stirring

Newcastle United

2 - 1

Chelsea

Teams

Attendance: 52,016. Best atmosphere of the season and the greatest contrast between the total silence pre-match for the Ronnie Simpson tribute and the waves of support to help the lads home after they levelled the contest, took the lead and then grappled with the opposition as if their lives depended on it. Stirring stuff with a suitable reaction in the stands.

And if post-match singing is any indication as to the passion of the crowd, then it was there in spades as Ron Atkinson would probably have said - the team left the pitch to chanting from the terraces and despite being in the dressing room could then hear the departing crowd singing as they filed underneath the Milburn stand.

The fact it was a team of paper hats like Chelsea and they kept sinning against our players of course stirred the blood even more - cue howls of righteous derision as Huth etc. left boots and arms in at various points.

But.....people still left before the end, with a mini exodus when the four minutes of added time were indicated. That despite the fact those who preferred a pie, pint or pee at half time but wanted to beat the rush missed Ameobi's superb strike. Ha Ha Ha.

Half time hero - Glenn Roeder.

Goals

4mins Joe Cole picked up a loose pass on the right side of our midfield and surged towards the box. He played a one-two with Lampard but Jonathan Woodgate was still favourite to halt Cole's run. Woody looked a little leaden-footed (for a change) though and his mis-timed allowed Cole to poke the ball through Given's legs at the Gallowgate end 0-1

44mins There was no hint of the flash of brilliance to follow when Shola was played the ball on the edge of the area with Desailly in close attendance.

Shola Ameobi shifted weight from one foot to the other, made half a yard and swivelled, hitting a fierce low shot into the corner that gave Ambrosio little chance. Simply stunning and without doubt the best, hardest hit and most Sheareresque of the 23 goals he's scored for this club 1-1

Half time: Newcastle 1 Chelsea 1

48mins 2-1 One of Al's finest. Some likened it to his famous strike against Everton but this was more like David Ginola's in the Howay-5-0 demolition of Manchester United.

There seemed little danger when Shearer received the ball out wide on our left and Desailly couldn't have been marking him more closely. Alan Shearer wriggled clear before hitting a thunderous right-footed drive that hurtled past a statuesque Ambrosio into the far corner. Purely Belter....

Full time: Newcastle 2 Chelsea 1

We Said

Sir Bobby commented:

"It was an epic, an enthralling game, a fantastic game between two good sides. I have to applaud Chelsea and say the gave us a fantastic game. But our win has come at a cost. We've had some rotten luck."

On Jonathan Woodgate's injury:

"It's been costly. It looks as though he's pulled his thigh muscle, so that could be the end of him this season, which is a blow to us.

"We'll have to get the medical opinion, but if it is a torn thigh muscle then we can forget about him for the rest of the season.

"We will have to let it settle down because there will be swelling and bruising, and the scan may be inconclusive for two or three days because it won't be clear.

"With the other four out as well not looking as if they might play either, it's just horrendous, it's just rotten luck. It's taken the edge off the result, to be honest. It's not taken the edge off the performance, but it'll take the edge off our position.

"Other teams will be laughing a bit now. It's sad."

Alan Shearer said:

"Sunday was a very good day for us, but it had to be after the results on Saturday. Even a point against Chelsea would not have been good enough.

"To come back from one goal down to win shows the team spirit here. We are going for fourth, there is no doubt about it, and we believe we can get it. The results over the weekend raised eyebrows, but it is going to be like that.

"It has been this tight for the last month and it will be until the season finishes. When there has been a chance for a team to go for fourth, they have not taken it and if one has won, the other has won.

"Teams have not taken advantage and I will repeat what I said earlier in the season, and that is it will go down to the final game of the season at Liverpool.

"I have seen nothing to change my mind. It's incredible how our results are mirroring Liverpool. Villa are hot on our heels and are in form.

"It is going to be very tight, there is no doubt about that."

Various quotes about our second goal:

"I certainly enjoyed the goal - once it left my right peg I knew where it was going. Desailly let me turn and invited me to shoot and I was not going to turn it down. I would have understood if he'd let me turn on my left foot as I wouldn't have shot from there. " (Alan Shearer)

"It has to be one of his best. It was a stunning shot and right off his lace-holes. It would have been a blur to the keeper." (Bobby Robson)

"You can't do anything about goals like that."
(Claudio Ranieri)

"Shearer collected a ball from Olivier Bernard in the left-hand channel, stepped around Desailly and launched himself at a shot that could not have been stopped, even without its vicious swerve."
(George Caulkin in The Times)

"a goal of breathtaking brilliance" (Rob Stewart in the Telegraph)

"an unstoppable right-foot drive....a wonder goal." (Simon Turnbull in the Independent)

"Shearer spun on to a pass from Olivier Bernard and looked up. He was 30 yards out and in a similar position to where he scored his famous volley against Everton last season. Marcel Desailly made the mistake of backing off, Shearer took instant advantage and stroked an electrifying shot across the static Marco Ambrosio into the far top corner. It was Shearer's 28th goal of the season and one of his best ever. St James' Park, louder than it has been all season, erupted." (Michael Walker in the Guardian.)

"...an outrageous dipping shot from all of 35 yards." (London Evening Standard reporter)

They Said

Claudio Ranieri said:

"In the first-half, we scored very early on and we had the chance to score again three times. We lost the final pass and at the end of the first-half Shola Ameobi scored.

"Alan Shearer scored a great goal, you can't do anything about that kind of goal. We could have played another two hours without scoring.

"I'm very pleased with our performance but not the result. The lads reacted very well to the Monaco defeat and I think we deserved a point.

"We have hit the post three times in the last three matches. Sometimes the ball goes in the goal, sometimes it doesn't.

"We need just a little bit more luck."

Match stats

Chelsea (H) - Premiership contests

2003/04 Won 2-1 Ameobi, Shearer
2002/03 Won 2-1 OG, Bernard
2001/02 Lost 1-2 Shearer
2000/01 Drew 0-0 No scorer
1999/00 Lost 0-1 No scorer
1998/99 Lost 0-1 No scorer
1997/98 Won 3-1 Dabizas, Lee, Speed
1996/97 Won 3-1 Shearer 2, Asprilla
1995/96 Won 2-0 Ferdinand 2
1994/95 Won 4-2 Cole 2, Fox, Lee
1993/94 Drew 0-0 No scorer

Alan Shearer is now just two goals away from equalling his best ever toon haul in a season of 30 goals.

Newcastle remain unbeaten at home in 2004 - 10 victories, 2 draws in all competitions.

And no team can now do the double over us in the Premiership this season.

Waffle

After taking centre stage on Thursday when we were deemed important enough to be shown on ITV1 (unlike last season in the Champs League), we were again relegated to warm-up status for this game, before the much-heralded title coronation of prince Henry & Co. at White Hart Lane.

And anyone switching on their tellies looking for some relaxing entertainment could have been excused for some confusion as to exactly what was being transmitted from Tyneside in the Sunday matinee slot.

We began with a moment of silence for granpaw Simpson with Sideshow Bobby at pitchside and Krusty in the press box, had a brief episode of Open All Hours in the home defence, watched the Great Escape unfold, endured another rerun of the Battle of Wounded Knee, then just before the screen went blank, enjoyed a snatch of the Last Post.

Throw in two of the best goals we've scored all season, one prompting an Alan Shearer "I'm Spartacus" moment then some moves from Huth inspired by the new Tarantino film ("Kill Bill McGarry?") and this wasn't bad for a well-attended sideshow.

Certainly those lads with the nifty little cameras collecting footage for that Goal film looked well pleased, although I'd wager 95% of the soundtrack from the stands will either require subtitles or an 18 certificate if used on the big screen.

And those inside the stadium seemed to appreciate the action and respond accordingly with the 52,000 live onlookers having the added benefit of avoiding the simpering commentary from Sky.

There, every throw in and boot mark was analysed purely in the context of what it did for the prospects of Arsenal clinching the title later that afternoon. The European claims of the two sides in action were largely ignored, as if ourselves and Chelsea had served up this footballing battle royale merely to spice up the North London derby.

The games come so thick and fast at this time that it's hardly possible to pass judgement on form or lack of it, or write anyone off. Just read the latest medical bulletin - if we had a feeder club it would be Holby City.

As we near the end of the season and plans for a second tier of seats for crocked players in the home dugout are drawn up, one question becomes ever more pressing. Just when will the burden of losing players through injury but continuing to grind out gutsy performances eventually become too much to bear?

It's been backs to the wall now for six games in seventeen days, when we've gone toe to toe with the top two in our league, one of our domestic rivals plus three energy-sapping encounters with continental foes of a similar pedigree to ourselves. God knows how the players feel, watching them and writing about it gets tiring enough.

Against Chelsea we started in sleepwalking mode and were punished, gradually built up the effort and commitment to drive the opposition back towards their goal and vitally scored just before the half ended, to give a lift to crowd and players alike.

The second period got rougher, tougher, nastier and more enjoyable. A pulsating game was graced with a Shearer goal as lustily celebrated as any other he's scored for us and thereafter we looked more like getting a third than conceding an equaliser.

Again though, we were ultimately grateful to Given's reactions and the goalpost for the victory that matched the return of rivals Villa and Liverpool the previous day.

Some brief respite before another massive week may alleviate the pressure on the squad slightly, but the Velodrome promises to provide the sternest test of our season so far - and that comes after our bow at the City of Manchester Stadium and a reunion with a certain former boss, who would love it, just love it, if his team could finally stop turning every last piece of hair on his head white.

Oh aye, and then we've got to find somebody to stop the might of Carl Cort the Sunday after. By then Wolves will almost certainly be down and with nothing else to do on that day other than trip us up as they try to win their first top-flight away game anywhere since January 1984 (this season: played 18, lost 12, drawn 6.)

Cort may have already cost us millions in wages and transfers, but that's nothing to the financial damage he could do if he stopped us getting three points to end our home campaign unbeaten.

Then "coasting" into the final week with a quick toddle down the road to Southampton followed by Liverpool (number of toon league victories at either ground in the last 30 seasons = 2.) By then we'll either be in Gothenburg....or hospital.

Bobby Robson spoke after this game about the rotten luck that is seeing his squad numbers reduced by every passing fixture. Putting aside the fact that he started it by shunning various squad members earlier in the season, that's a fair and valid stance to take.

However, the last-gasp miss by John Terry when he stabbed the ball onto the Leazes post from four yards and Drogba's denial of an vital away goal for Marseille by the same piece of woodwork can be equally be seen as fortunate, bordering on the miraculous.

After losing to Partizan back in August we thought we'd do well to get back into the Champions League. To be still fighting for that honour at this stage with the injury and suspension handicaps is seen as testament to a poor league by some journalists. Adding in a UEFA Cup campaign still very much alive and kicking, I'd prefer to call it remarkable.

The inquests about dropping points due to early and mid-season ineptitude and player sales and acquisitions can wait. As fans, it's about seeing it through now and not crying on the telly if it all goes King Kong....

Let's just hope Bobby still has a couple of rubs of the magic lamp still owing to him before that other sideshow in Portugal in June.

I'm breathless, hopefully the players aren't.

Biffa

Reports

Page last updated 25 April, 2020