NEWCASTLE 1 Leicester 2, Report by Rik

The game was a little late in starting due to the nationwide remembrance of the fans that died at Hillsbourgh 11 years ago to the day. There was a minutes silence at 3.06 the time at which the game stopped at Hillsbourgh all those years ago. You could have heard a pin drop at St James', but people don't take pins to a match, they take mobile phones , and the silence was broken not by man but by these annoying little contraptions.

Some of the fans took the stupid stance of calling Uriah Rennie todays match official a *anker, before he had even started the game. WHY?? he may well have sent Shearer off in the opening game of the season, but to get his back up straight away isn't a good idea.

Newcastle lined up with the same team that played so well against Chelsea in the semi final the previous week. The same team that played so well but conceded two goals and lost the game. The same team that played so well midweek against West Ham, conceded two goal and lost the game.

Soon after kick off it became apparent to me that I shouldn't have gone to the match today. I was in unfamiliar territory at the front of the newly rechristened South Stand, formerly known as the Gallowgate end, (or was it the Exhibition stand?) and I was seated amongst the most miserable bunch of bastards that I've ever encountered. Far from wanting to support their team they just seemed to want to criticize most of Newcastle players , hurling abuse at Shay Given , Steve Howey and anyone else who dared make a mistake. And mistake they made, big time after only 7 minutes. Aaron Hughes was unable to contain Impey who saw Cotee between the two centre backs. It was unclear who should have picked up the striker, but neither did, he was clean through and took a shot.

 It wasn't a brilliant shot, and many a keeper would have saved it. Given didn't , one nil to the foxes. Hughes nearly made up for his defensive frailties a few minutes later, skinning a Leicester defender in the "away" corner, Flowers came forward , Hughes pulled the ball back to Speed. With virtually on open goal Speed managed to find the leg of the single defender that stood between him and the Newcastle equaliser. The moaners around me, really started to get wound up "Your shit, yer welsh tosser" screamed an idiot behind me , and that was tame by their standards. The Newcastle defenders who were within earshot got the brunt of their anger at the inadequate performance. Far from getting behind them, they continued to hurl abuse , telling Given and Howey how shit they were, and how they were a disgrace to the black and white shirt.

No one is immune to that and it hardly have does their confidence any good . No one was in a black and white shirt was any good according to the elected commentator of the abusers. He was sitting behind me and was screaming at the players, who they should be passing to and who should be moving where on the pitch. He must have thought we were all blind, telling us who had the ball, who the player was looking to pass to, Who was moving into space, interspersed with his abusive remarks, he was surely the fan (?) from hell.

"Solano's got it, go on Solano, up to Dyer man, Hit the cow yer tosser................. he dosen't wanna play for us, Robson should sell im to Madrid...... Solano.... That was useless ,...... Nah don't pass it back to Given, he can't kick the cow, ...... ah nice pass, what a pass, Dyer's in space, Dyer take him on go on,............... you useless ****. Pass it back to Nobby.... nah don't cross....What a great cross....... Shearer's gonna..... Foul!.... did you see that how was it offside ".... This went on for the entire first half, and I was getting a bit wound up. I've never been physically removed from a football match, but if this prick behind me continued like this in the second half, I would surely stick one on him and to hell with the consequences. No wonder the seat I was in was empty. (I was in seat NN36 in the Gallowgate if your interested)

Half time came and I could take a breather, maybe I could bung some bog roll in my ears so I could actually watch the game in the second half. Luckily I didn't need to, as my mate Jonno told me that the seat next to him had been empty. I could switch seats and watch all the goals flood in for Newcastle in the second half.

There were no changes at half as I settled down to enjoy the second half, Whereas seven minutes into the first half Leicester scored, Seven minutes into the second they got their second. This time Robbie Savage was the scorer with what looked like a fantastic shot. Questions must be asked of the defence though, with six centre backs on the books is the injured Dabizas the best and if so how do Newcastle get rid of the other five to make space for a better player? Or is the problem simply that they were both physically and mentally exhausted? Newcastle almost got one back when Solano who's general crossing had been poor found the head of Domi in the box. The header came of the post , Newcastle heads dropped, It wasn't to be our day. Perhaps it was time to try some of the youngsters, and thats just what Robson did in the 68th minute. Off went Solano, to be replaced by Gavilan. Aaron Hughes also retired from the game to be replaced by a Beckham lookalike It took a couple of minutes before I realised that it was Paul Robinson lining up next to Shearer. Newcastle had gone to a back 3 and for the last 20 minutes the new lads really had a go at trying to get a goal back. They showed what Newcastle had been lacking, A bit of running off the ball , unfortunately the other players rarely passed to them and young Robbo in particular looked a tad frustrated by his wasted efforts.

Leicester had pulled Matt Elliot back and most of the action(?) was in the Leicester half. Rob Lee took a couple of shots, but had left his shooting boots in the Wembley changing room, to say his two shots were close quite frankly is a lie. A number of corners were won, and Gavilan showed that he certainly can cross a ball well, indeed his set pieces were a big improvement on Solanos earlier efforts. By the 80 th minute Dyer had run himself into the ground, he left the arena, as did thousands of Geordies. The usual chants of we can see you sneaking out were nowhere to be heard, indeed many of those who usually chant were themselves making a very early exit. By full time the ground shamefully was 50% empty.

So.... where do Newcastle go from here? Is the season finished? Should Robson, bring back the likes of Harper, Maric or Glass ? Perhaps play some youngsters like Gavilan, Griffin or Robinson ? Or stick with the players he is using?

E Mail me , and I'll post them on next weeks letters page.

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