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14th May Newcastle 4 Arsenal 2, report by Rik The last day of the season brought the wenger boys to St James' for a good thrashing. Arsenal had a bigger game on their minds with the UEFA cup final in Copenhagen just 3 days away. Newcastle in comparison had a game in the football mad , (but not very good) island of Trinidad next Thursday to look forward to. Arsenal played a team full of young hopefuls and has beens, with Ray Parlour jnr and Wanko Kanu their only two regular first teamers. Newcastle wearing their Broon Ale strips for a final time had a few injuries to contend especially at the back where Griffin was drafted in to start his first game of the season, but still managed to field a strong(ish) side. THE FULL LINE UP WAS:-
It was 23 degrees and bright sunshine, our foreign contingent will be happy. Hang on, there's only two foreigners in the team, In stark contrast to the beginning of the season. Robson has turned the team around and has started to play the Britts, could this be why we are doing so well I thought as the game commenced. It was a cracking start, with Newcastle as usual giving it their all from the kick off. Barton was first to penetrate in the unusual left back position. His second minute run into the box though came to nothing. Griffin was in Barton's usual position and it was clear to see just why he is rated so highly by Wor Bobby. He has great pace and vision and interacted well from the early moments with Solano down the right, His 3rd minute cross just had a bit too much pace on it for Speed who had made a good run into the opposing box. The sixth minute saw Shearer with his back to goal protecting the ball from one of the wenger boys, he sensed that Speed was again running into the box and producing a neat overhead kick set Speed up brilliantly to score Newcastle's first of the day. One nil to Newcastle didn't last long, 32 seconds to be precise. Arsenal chipped the ball over a Newcastle defence , still in celebratory mode, Wanko Kanu although offside was allowed to continue, he in turn chipped the ball over an out of position Shay Given and it was all square. Newcastle spurred on by a noisy crowd almost took the lead three minutes later, but Shearer missed the chance to get his 300th career goal as his shot blazed over the bar. Indeed Arsenal should have taken the lead after 17 minutes, Dabizas had gone forward, lost the ball, Suker took advantage but from 6 yards out hit the ball well over the goal. Newcastle's best moves were coming down the right with Griffin and Solano, it was the later who had played a ball through for Rob Lee half way though the first period. Lee strode forward and shot, but one of the Arsenal youngsters stuck his hand out. Newcastle had a free kick in a very good central position. Up stepped Shearer and hammered the ball through a hole in the the Arsenal wall. Maninger had no chance. Shearer smile said it all, 30 goals in a season is a great feat for any premiership player, but for one who at 29 is said to be over the hill and should be dropped from the England team, it was a very special moment. Arsenal had their moments, on the half hour mark, Suker once again shot wide followed a few minutes later by an even worse shot from Kanu. Dabizas had again been sloppy, and it was set to continue, Another foray into the opposing half by the wannabee Greek centre forward, this time saw Parlour steel the ball from him. It was left to Gary Speed to track back and save Newcastle from another defensive blunder at the hands of the Premierships runners up. Dyer was having a quiet half playing in an unfamiliar left wing position. He would be glad that Mr Keegan was elsewhere checking out Liverpool players. His first real move down the left came just a minute before the break, but it came to nothing. The second half's first bit of action saw Dyer cross to Griffin, he couldn't get a good shot in and Maninger saved it easily. Arsenal got the equaliser after 53 minutes, it was scored by Stephan Maltz after some good work by Kanu. Could Given have saved it? Probably not, but Harper possibly could have done. Newcastle again pressed forward in search of a winner. Speed and Kets almost combine in a good move after the restart, but Kets takes the ball too far. Newcastle keep up the pressure and win yet another corner. Solano's delivery finds the head of an unmarked Gary Speed. He rarely misses from close range, and didn't toady. 55 minutes played 3 - 2 to Newcastle. Arsenal throw on more youngsters saving their better players for the UEFA cup. Newcastle respond by stepping up the pressure and get a forth on the hour mark from an unlikely source. Again Solano is involved , this time his pass finds young Griff in space in the penalty area. The youngster cooly chips Maninger to score his first goal in his first start of the season. Watch out Barton, this kid is very good. With 15 minutes left Newcastle almost get a fifth, Dyer sets up Shearer , his shot this time though is saved brilliantly. Ketsbaia makes what is likely to be his last wave to the crowd, as he is withdrawn, to be replaced by Gallacher. He in turn interacts with Griffin who sets up Speed for his hat trick, It was a relatively simple chance, but he failed to make the most of it. In the dying minutes Solano waved farewell to the toon Army , and Lee came off to a standing ovation. Replaced by Maric and McClen respectively. Graham Poll who had had an incident free afternoon blew the final whistle of the season, and the Newcastle fans, gave the team that had come back so well in the season a great reception after a fine win. That's it till next season then. ...................By Rik |
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The Small print......, If you are reading this then you must be very sad and have extremely good eyesight. I certainly can't read it. soccer-uk / Riksplace and the-scum are best viewed using netscape Communicator v 4.5, with your screen resolution set at 800x 600 . All Items, ideas on these pages ©Riksplace, soccer-uk , SMB and the-scum team UK© All Rights Reserved. You can't steal anything off us, we will get very cross if you do and send the "boys" round to sort you out. Everyone logging onto this site will have there IP number automatically recorded, so we will have proof that you have been here, we're not stupid, well I am but the other lads aren't The Scum-team consists of Rik, the one that does all the work, Bobby, the one with all the funny stories , Stu , who makes us laugh, and Eddy who makes it look really nice, with contributions from our friends around the globe such as Stevo, Macbeth, Jonno, Barney, Softie, Dr Bill and loads of other guys who send us stories, reports and jokes. Feel free to link to this site and we will do the same back for your site (IF, It's good and funny ). If you want to advertise on here. MAKE US AN OFFER. Mail scumteam@riks.globalnet.co.uk If you want to complain then contact Bobby, as he likes a bit of hassle. All graphics are designed by Eddy Suryadi , of Mag Power. if you want your own custom graphics (he is very reasonable) then contact him . deco@dnet.net.id.. Finally everything you see or read on these pages are probably fabricated lies, meant as a joke and should not be taken too seriously.
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