August 21st. Newcastle 3 Newcastle's Defence -3 report by Rik

Firstly, I am not too happy at the result of this game , after being 3 - 1 up, we should have easily won this game. Once again the defence didn't defend and we let in 3 silly goals and only came away with 1 point. Marcelino hasn't settled in yet, we know he can defend. The same could be said of Karelse , he hasn't settled in yet, but IS HE A GOOD KEEPER? He has let in seven in two games, surely Harper would have saved a couple of these. Finally young Beharall made a bad blunder, he has time on his side, lets not dent his already fragile confidence by slagging him off. Everyone else had a good game.

Ok that's the negative bit out of the way, now for the good bits

The Line Up...

Karelse

Barton ..... Marcelino .... Goma (Beharall) ....Domi

Dyer .... McClen..... Speed ..... Solano

Robinson ...... Ketsbaia (Ferguson)

Other subs not used Harper, Kerr, Hughes (Oh BTW the match program has Gary Caldwell as number 22 ) .

 The game .

I had luckily snapped up a ticket for £20 from a rather disillusioned toon fan. I wasn't expecting much for my money but was pleasantly surprised to have a ringside seat in the leazers end. Best view I've had for a long time, the sun was shining and there were some good lads around me, or so i thought. That new unlucky tune heralded the arrival of the lads , with Ruud Gullit arriving to a tumultuous welcome from the toon Army. It was a comfortable start, everyone looked confident and it wasn't long before a probing run from Domi down the left ended in a free kick 2 yards from the byline. In the absence of Shearer Nobby Solano had appointed himself as set piece taker. his first attempt of the day brought an instant reward with his cross finding the head of Gary Speed. Seven minutes gone, One - nil to the toon. The complete stranger to the right must have thought that I'd scored the goal , he jumped all over me and started hugging me. I thought to myself do i give him a byker T-cake now or wait till he tries to stick his tongue down my throat? He composed himself as the game restarted.

I seemed to remember Karelse make a couple of awkward saves, For a big bloke he isn't as commanding in the box as either of the two shorter lads on the books, perhaps it will come in time, but time we don't have. Newcastle were well in control. Gary Speed controlled the centre, young McClen, the sun tan out of a bottle kid, did little wrong, but it was Robinson who caught the eye. The debutant's superb pass cutting through the dons defence found Barton who in turn crossed to Dyer in space on the edge of the box. Dyer struck the ball narrowly wide. The half hour mark saw a slick move again involving Robinson, Domi and Solano. It resulted in Newcastle doubling their lead. Robinson started the move finding Domi, who in turn squared the ball to Solano. The 1 - 2 came back to the classy Frenchman who opened his Newcastle account with a well taken goal. More hugs and kisses were the order of the day, I was starting to get worried about this guy next to, so decided to take an early leak, rather than have him follow me to the gents at half time. A few groans signalled the inevitable , 2 - 1just before half time, the consensus of opinion was that it was Marcelinos fault but hey I wasn't there so can't make judgement. what I can say is that we should have finished them off after the second goal. A 10 minute spell saw about 5 shots from Newcastle go wide.

Second half was barely under way when kets broke free and was awarded a penalty for kicking the ball at A dons defenders arm. Up stepped Solano and calmly netted the third. No wonder this seat was cheap i thought as the customary hugs ensued from the over friendly lad next to me. He was probably pissed i kept thinking to myself. Newcastle were by this time coasting, they looked like Keegan's cavaliers of old , indeed I can't remember such a positive display for... I can't remember. ketsbaia almost made it 4 on the hour mark, but his shot wide didn't just miss the target it did his back in. One of the loudest receptions of the afternoon went to big Dunc, making his comeback for the first time since the cup final. He isn't fully fit, but his mere presence put the shits up the Dons defenders. Surely we would get a hatfull now that big Dunc was on.?

Unfortunately it wasn't to be our day. Firstly Goma got an injury. To the astonishment of most of the fans on came Beharall. It was presumed that Aaron Hughes was the best of the rest, but Ruud knows better, doesn't he?

No. actually , playing Beharall could have been the mistake of the day. The untried youngster made a huge error of judgment just minutes after coming on , pausing to clear the ball and letting it bounce when anyone else would just have wellied it. It was a costly error as a Wimbledon's sub Ainsworth took advantage hammering the ball home.

The last 20 minutes were awful. Dunc spent most of the time defending better than the defenders, but it has to be said that Newcastle panicked ........ again. No one took the game by the scruff of the neck , No one tried to calm down the rest of the players around them. They simply hit the panic button and the inevitable happened . An injury time equaliser really spoilt the day, it was Ainsworth again. For 70 minutes we were brilliant for the last 20 we were a shambles. I don't know what the answer is , but changing the manager isn't that's for sure. The period of panicking does seem to be getting shorter, which is a plus point. Today they managed 3/4 of ther game. possibly the next one might just be the last 5 minutes then that may be the end of it (wishfull thinking? )

Finally a footnote, The press are still after Gullits blood. Comments like "Newcastle booed off the pitch" and "Toon in trouble" are wide of the mark. There is light at the end of the tunnel, we are playing good football , each game we have scored one more goal than the previous game. If this trend continues we will get 4 past the MaKems , Will they get 5? I shouldn't have thought so. What of the team for the next game? It's all down to injuries, if todays injuries are not too bad then I would play

Harper

Barton ....A fit new blerk, (Goma is the best ) ... Hughes .....Domi

Dyer ....................Speed...................Solano

Robinson ......Shearer or Kets

 Ferguson...

But I have a feeling thaty it won't be just Kets and Goma who will be out. Dunc isn't 100% and Dyer and McClen were hobbling by the end of the game.

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