Location – Ewood Park   Kick Off – 3.00pm   Date – Saturday 9th December 2006   Tickets - Sell Out
Coverage – BBC Radio Newcastle 95.4FM   Referee – Dermot Gallagher

Now the Jack Walker revolution is firmly put to bed, the Welsh Wizard is finding life in the Premiership a little tricky due to an increasing amount of first team players on the treatment table and a complete lack of quality reserve options. With that in mind it is looking good for the traveling Toon Army to come away from Ewood with a positive result. However I am not disillusioned and am very aware that there wont be any easy games in the Premiership especially away from home. We make a very rare Saturday afternoon trip to “Hill Country” and come face to face with a team that over the last couple of weeks is one of the teams in the Premiership that is massively lacking in confidence. There has been a lot of transfer dealing and management swapping between the two clubs either directly or indirectly over the last couple of years with the likes of Duff, Shearer, Cole, Dalglish & Souness.

Its seems strange saying that we have only lost one game in the last eleven due to our league position sill being decidedly precarious. This game screams a bottom of the table six pointer but again we are only just into December and the real panic probably will set in after another joke of a January transfer window has slammed firmly shut. Can we make it a run of two wins on the bounce for the first time this season or will we do the usual and bottle it… I’m sure time will tell.

Last Season:

Home – (L) 1 – 0 (Pedersen)

Away – (W) 3 – 0 (Shearer, Owen & N’Zogbia)

Likely Squads:

Rovers (Blue Army) - Friedel, Brown, Neill, Ooijer, Todd, Gray, Henchoz, McEveley, Bentley, Tugay, Mokoena, Savage, Peter, Pedersen, Nonda, McCarthy, Gallagher.

Man to Watch – McCarthy – Definitely there biggest threat.

Fitness News – Brett Emerton (hamstring), Zurab Khizanishvili (groin)

NUFC – Given, Srnicek, Solano, Taylor, Ramage, Huntington, Babayaro, Butt, Emre, N'Zogbia, Milner, Pattison, Troisi, Gate, Edgar, Martins, Sibierski, Luque, Rossi, Carroll.

Man to Watch – Sibierski – Best signing of the summer, seems strange saying that.

Fitness News – Duff (4 weeks) Ameobi (Mid 2007) Owen (Mid 2007) Baba-yoyo (4 weeks) Moore (4 Weeks) Bernard (2 Weeks) Dyer (1 Week)

Late Fitness Tests – Carr & Dyer

"Reasons to be Cheerful" – Climbing the league at last, Sibierski and Martins are looking like a partnership at last and Nicky Butt is starting to look half decent again.

Keep On, Keepin’ On…

ES