Match Report

How easy was that than eh? I think most expected us to win but this was the most one-sided derby in many a year. Surprisingly for a derby game, no-one in the pubs beforehand seemed nervous at all, the only check on optimism being a fear of jinxing the whole thing by predicting wild results. The town was buzzing from early in the day and on getting into the stadium, the big bloke on the pitch belting out 'Blaydon Races' was a masterstroke as it had SJP bouncing and the noisiest it had been in absolutely ages. We were straight into them from the k.o. and three minutes in we were ahead - cue bedlam in the stands. I'll get to Geremi in a bit but he put over a decent ball, which Owen rose to plant home with a phenomenal header. He must have scored more goals with his head than his feet this season and this was a cracker. For the next ten minutes, the Mackems looked terrified - the ground was rocking and if we had have scored in that period, I genuinely think we could have gone on to give them a proper scudding. McShane in particular looked so far out of his depth it was almost embarrassing and a 'proper' winger would have completely butchered him. He even scored what looked like a perfectly legitimate own goal with a header almost as good as Owen's but had it chalked off for something or other - still, nice try.

As it was, they managed to calm things down and most of the rest of the half was quite scrappy, but we were always the better side as the Mackems huffed and puffed and tried to utilise their sole tactic - howking the ball up to Kenwyne. Nice one. Then, with a minute or so to half time we won a penalty. Owen exchanged passes with Viduka and then against the hand of Higginbotham. Touch and go decision - it was definitely handball but maybe not deliberate. Still, fuck it, this is the Mackems we're on about here and to add to the hilarity, Owen's penno was awful yet still squirmed under Gordon's body to make it two nil right on the stroke of half time.

The second half was fairly nondescript and if anything looked to be damage limitation for the Mackems. They were clueless coming forward and any threat they might have had was totally cancelled out by Butt, who was absolutely superb and controlled everything in the middle. Of the other two midfielders - Barton's passing was excellent and he had another good game and fulfilling the promise to get back to Geremi - well, where do you start? His set-piece distribution was utter gash throughout as was his passing in general. And he can't run. But despite all that, he has a canny knack of creating goals. You can of course attribute this to the law of averages as the bloke must have twenty opportunities a game to get the ball in the box but like him or not, he has made a big contribution to our revival.

As far as chances went in the second half, Oba had our best after being put through by Owen, but this time Britain's most expensive keeper (aye, I knaa), saved with his body and at the other end, Kenwyne finally got a header in which Harper saved well but the game by this point had turned scrappy. The last ten minutes or so were great - Chopra got a deservedly hostile reception on his homecoming as treachery was not forgiven on the grounds of never actually being good enough to play for us and the crowd enjoyed taunting the mute Mackems as we cruised to an oh so easy victory. Keegan reckoned the game wasn't a classic but we actually performed very, very well. At the back, the two full backs were again exceptional as were Taylor and Faye and let's not forget, this is the third clean sheet on the bounce. In the middle, Butt was just fantastic and up front, Owen scored twice and looked classy when dropping deep.

The Mackems will stop up, just, but if that's as good as it gets for £50m, Evans or no Evans then they are struggling next season. Still, they're not our worry - for now it's time to enjoy yet another derby win and continue to finish the season strongly. Happy days!

Keep the Faith

Gareth Harrison

Man of the Match - Butt - again.

Ref - Mike Dean - 8 - Another very good refereeing performance, Kept a handle on them when they started running around kicking people in the second half.

Their Fans - 2 - Absolutely pathetic. Barely raised a murmur throughout, possibly saving it for later when they were allegedly very noisy in a Police escort.