Match Report

So there goes the “Newcastle United, have never been defeated” song!

Pre-match, the away end was full of optimism and full of songs both for our new number 9 (“He’s 21, not 28”) and also for some Irish bloke, who is new to the North East and who likes to walk his dog (that’s walk with an “L”……………………)

Personally, I would have only made 1 outfield change from the team, which played Ventspils on Thursday night; Martins in for El Red Boots, but Roeder benched young Prince Charles to accommodate Nobby. Don’t get me wrong, The Peruvian Trumpeteer is a majestic footballer but N’Zogbia is too good to be sat on the bench; benches are for the Rab C Nesbitts of this world – could you ever imagine our French-Wonder-Kid taking his pet Budgie out for a walk via a dog lead? Nope, me neither! I think he is the bee’s arms and that left flank was made for him, Duff was fantastic against Venstpils down the right and I would have kept him there against Villa.

We got off to a horrendous start after just 3 minutes, a free kick was not dealt (Deal or No Deal? We didn’t deal) with and Bramble’s attempted clearance, which went all of 10 yards, fell to Moore, who side-stepped a few challenges before firing into Shay’s bottom left hand corner. Does the best thing to come out of Ireland since The Corrs (cough, cough, cough) look fit to you? He’s having a few problems with his back and I think a fully fit Shay would have kept Moore’s shot out.

We had plenty of the ball in the first half but didn’t really press enough or force the Lurpak Lover into making a save; our best chance fell to Milner, who swivelled to send a half volley over the bar from 6 yards out. We fell further behind on 38 minutes when Bramble should have either gone with Angel or stepped up to play him offside did neither and failed to track the Colombian’s run who rounded Shay before slotting home into an empty net.

Villa are a typical O’ Neill team – full of discipline, graft and Sunderland tattoos and getting back into the match was always going to be like trying to climb Mount Everest with Rusty Lee complete with her Rolling Pin tied to your back. I think every NUFC fan in the world feared (well, expected) the worst when Martins was stretchered off after an hour – I honestly expected to hear news that he was out of action for 23 years, thankfully though he only had a dead leg (a term I have never grasped – how does part of your body die? And why do you not have a funeral for it?) and should be fit for our next match. Typically, we had already used 3 subs, which meant we played the remainder of the match with ten-men and subsequently never threatened to get back into the match.

The winda slams shut in the next few days and I still think we need a left back, a centre half and a centre forward – Bridge, Woodgate and Defoe would be very nice but unfortunately, I don’t think we have a blank chequebook like Les Dawson used to have but we need players in as our squad is smaller than last year.

DP