An improved performance in an enjoyable League Cup game saw us progress into the last 
16 thanks to some decent performances from the fringe players and a welcome return to goalscoring form for Papiss Cisse.
Backed by a noisy 6,000 travelling fans, Leeds almost took the lead within the first five minutes and it would have been an absolute pearler, with McCormack advancing forward and attempting a chip from 20 yards which beat Krul only to come back off the bar. Both sets of fans stood to applaud Gary Speed on the 11th minute in a heartwarming tribute and the tempo of the game remained as lively as the crowd. ‘We were equally lively in the opening exchanges though and Cisse had a couple of half decent chances, but couldn’t find the target or in the case of an air-shot in front of goal, the ball itself.
Leeds looked dangerous going forward for large spells of the half and clubs have obviously sussed out that any balls over the top have us all over the show and a ball played over Debuchy caught him out and led to a cross evading Coloccini and landing to Smith who thankfully fluffed his lines, presumably not expecting the ball to land to him. ‘It was Newcastle who took the lead on the half hour through a tremendously worked goal. Dummett, who had a very encouraging game, played a lovely ball down the line to Sammy and he whipped over a fantastic cross which Cisse planted past the keeper – great header, great cross, great move. ‘We didn’t really hammer the advantage home though and Leeds threatened again before the break with the match still up for grabs.
We celebrated the lead by continuing our tradition of enjoying a cup of tea with a couple of Tramadol in the dressing room judging by the familiar lethargic start to the second half and for the first twenty minutes, Leeds had the majority of the possession and looked by far the most likely to notch the next goal, heading narrowly wide with their best chance. ‘However, we regained our composure and wrapped the game up with just over twenty minutes to go. ‘Again, Sammy was the architect, slipping a ball into Gouffran on the edge of the 18 yard box but he still had a lot of work to do. ‘The Frenchman swivelled and cracked home an absolute beauty beating Kenny all ends up and securing the victory for us – pity he can’t do that from a yard out but it was a lovely strike.
With the game wrapped up, Pardew took Cisse off to a standing ovation and he had looked livelier all night, to be replaced by Obertan. ‘The ‘enigmatic’ Frenchman had two good chances to extend the lead, both times played in on goal and both times showing signs of his pace to outpace the defence and also signs of his utter fuckwittedness in front of goal, putting both efforts straight into the body of Kenny. ‘Leeds never really threatened to get back into it and we comfortably held on for the victory.
There was a lot to like about tonight. ‘Sammy had possibly his best game for us, Dummett hasn’t had a bad game since he’s been asked to step up and of course Cisse has got the goal we have been desperately willing him to score, hopefully boosting his confidence no end. ‘Despite the ground being far from full, the match felt like a proper cup tie as well, helped no end by the fantastic travelling support. ‘They’re still twats like.
We’ll not get carried away mind, at the end of the day they are a mid-table second division side and as such you’d expect to beat them and although it’s a home draw, Man City in the next round will be a different proposition.
Keep the Faith
Newcastle United – Tim Krul 7, Mathieu Debuchy 6, Fabricio Coloccini 7, Mike Williamson 6, Paul Dummett 8, Sylvain Marveaux 4, Chieck Tiote 6, Vurnon Anita 7 (Dan Gosling n/a), SAMMY AMEOBI 8, Yohan Gouffran 7, Papiss Cisse 7 (Gabriel Obertan 6)
Ref – Jones – 7 – Minus one for the ridiculous purple blouse he was wearing
Our Fans – 7 – Minus one for singing ‘Shall we sing a song for you’ late in the game when they had been out-sung all game. ‘I don’t think it was irony anyway.
Their Fans – 9 – Minus one for being Leeds, otherwise as good an away following as we have seen at SJP in recent years
GARETH HARRISON
Follow Gareth on Twitter’‘ ‘
I don’t know about you lads but the game I was at saw us never get out of 3rd gear and comfortably beat Leeds, who gave a good account of ourselves,
The whole ’embarrassed our support’ issue is a none starter. If the fixture would have been reversed the same would have happened 4-5000 of us down there ‘out-singing’ the home fans. I’d be worried if any set of away fans with a big following didn’t make more noise than home fans.
I got hoyed from lv7 to the corner but I don’t know why so many people grief Ashley for the shite atmosphere (well you could attribute his management in the club to falling passion amongst increasingly despondent fans – but let’s ignore that for a second)
It’s not Ashley’s fault 48,000 people can’t muster any consistent atmosphere (again let’s ignore the shite served up on the pitch). Most people who go to the match just don’t want to sing. I’d much rather stand each game and the people around me get behind the lads rather than scream abuse at them, but I’m in the minority.
LV7 was class and the corner is still loud albeit to a much smaller degree. I’d love the club to have a ‘singing’ section again and other clubs are looking into such things, but realistically it’s a reasonable question to ask why such a section would need to be organised
P.s Obertan played well when he came on and made an impact…fair play to him. I’d like to see him on the bench more and not have his confidence decimated by Pardew by hoying him on for a half against Man city away. 6/10 perfectly justified mark.
How did Obertan get a 6 in the match report!
I was hoping a scout from another club was reading it.
Noise not nise
Dont konw how we can bring back the nise. When we sat (stood) all game in the Level 7 Leazes corner, we sang all game and jumped around a bit when we scored plus there was great banter with the away fans. Now we sit in the Leazes end proper theres been no singing for two years, maybe because we are suurounded by day trippers and occasional football followers, families, dad,mam, kids who have no intention in singing and look at us like cwe ae nutters if we shout at a player or try to start a song. This is the clientele the club wants.
Also the fact that Ashley and Pardew have sucked out the affection from fans to players and the club it doesnt make for a great atmosphere. They broke up the singing corner as they didnt want the noise and wanted families in instead.
Re Leeds, yes great support who outsung us but its easy to get that going in away games as the underdog, we have an away support that deos the same, still fairplay to them they are a big club and have more recent trophy success than ourselves.
Agree Ant, the match reports on the BBC made it sound like an easy win, ultimately it was but for long spells we struggled to cope with Leeds possession and their organisation and tactics. They cut through our midfield with ease at time, our extra quality made the difference in the final third, but Leeds looked at least as assured and organised as we did.
I am a season ticket holder exiled in Selby so I live amongst Leeds Fans. I was at the match last night and have to say the Leeds fans embarrassed our own as they outsung us throughout the game. My point is this. I hope Mike Cashley took note of where the noise was coming from as that is where Toon’s atmosphere was before he moved them to the Gallowgate corner. The noise generated from level seven reverberates around the City let alone the ground. Please Mike Ashley return the level back to the Toon Army and restore our famous atmosphere to strike fear to the opposition. Well done Leeds Fans
That’s how to do a tribute, 11th minute for the number11 and for 11 minutes duration, planned and executed smartly. Put our feeble response of the ditty “one Gay Speed” with no rhyme or rhythm to shame, Inside the stadium their support embarrassed ours.
“Your support is fuffing shit” they sang, unfortunately they were right.
Strange game: like the game against Hull, we keep looking good when we are in an attacking mode, but what is going on with our defence? They look like a bunch of strangers in an improptu kick-about.
I refuse to believe that a fine footballer like Debuchy forgot how to play. I think our mid-fielders are losing battles when under pressure, they are not squeezing and pressing enough so, when the over-the-top ball comes, our defenders are left totally stranded and exposed (and looking foolish).
Also very scary: when Leeds decided to move up a gear, our mid-field “maestros” (Anita and Marveaux) and enforcers (Tiote) were being out-played! Thank goodness for Leeds’s lack of cutting edge in front of goal – there were too many scary moments yesterday.
We scored two good goals and it was entertaining but I ‘m not convinced we were palying well until we got the second goal Leeds were the better team for long spells and could have done a lot more with the pace we gave them in the final third,at least in terms of possession, saying that it was entertaining and Gouffran deserves an extended run in the first team. Comedy clips video for Obertan already, presented with a succession of chances against a tired team and he still couldn score.
Was happy with any home draw, but this will be tough one, whether they put out a reserve side or not.
I know Sammy had a hand in both goals but he gave the ball away numerous times in the second half especially, he still has a long way to go to ‘threaten’ the first team. There are glimpses of quality but whether that will translate to the PL I’m not sure. Having taken stick from all and sundry at suggesting Gouffran was honest but limited I may have to revise my opinion of him somewhat. Dummett is looking canny though and could be a legitimate back up to either full back this season if he continues to progress. Hopefully, a full house and strong team fielded against Man City to back up Pardew’s claims of wanting to win things. We shall see.