NEWCASTLE 2 Liverpool 2, Report by Rik

The Second of the Xmas home Games

26th December.

 Today starting eleven are:-

Harper

Barton .... Dabizas ... Hughes .... Pistone

Solano (Sub Gallacher) . .......... Lee ..... Speed

 Dyer (Sub Glass)

Ferguson (Sub Kets)..... Shearer.

On reflection this was probably a fair result. Newcastle could easily have won it, if it weren't for some sloppy defending . But the same has to be said of Liverpool. The first Newcastle goal came from a Solano Free Kick. Nobby lofted the ball in towards the goal. The Liverpoool defence froze, The ball was in the back of the net and Shearer was running back with a single arm raised which normally signifies the fact that he had scored. It was Nobby's goal but I wouldn't like to argue with Mr Shearer as he strives to outscore Super Kev down the A19. Liverpool hit back when Titi Camera found Owen on the left side of the United goal. He darted past the unwell Pistone took on and beat Aaron Hughes and slid the ball past Harper. Newcastle made numerous chances and were well on top of the first half but it was all square at half time.

The second half saw Dyer limping off with a recurrence of a groin injury. He was replaced by Glass. Newcastle again were comfortable. Too comfortable infact as Dabizas was guilty of the most horrendous back pass. He was 35 yards out, could have passed it anywhere, turned back towards Harper and half hit it . Michael Owen was straight on to it and again slid it past Harper.

Newcastle were shaken by this unexpected turnaround in the game, and for the next ten minutes Liverpool looked like the better team. It took a brilliant piece of play by the excellent Warren Barton to reverse Newcastle's fortunes.The Equalising goal may well go down as a Ferguson header but to me it was Barton's goal. He had already tried a couple of long shots before he decided to try a diagonal left footer to the far post. As with the first Newcastle goal it was big Dunc who claimed the goal, having the slightest of touches to take it past the pathetic Westeg???? , but as far as I was concerned it was a Barton goal. He shone brightly on a cold and dull day and was clearly man of the match. This wouldn't have gone unnoticed by the England manager, watching his beloved Newcastle from the posh seats in the Milburn stand. Some say it was Owen and Shearer that he had come to see as they went head to head. Well perhaps it was but he like all of us will have gone home thinking. "That Warren Barton should be in the England team" The way he defended all day was magnificent, but the way he made chances for the forwards without compromising his defensive position was superb. As for the rest of the lads, Pistone understandably was not 100% , having been in bed with Flu for the previous seven days. Hughes did Ok but "can do better" as for Dabizas, he played well but that back pass ????

In Midfield Lee was the rock, outplaying Dudi Hamoan who was heckled at every touch. Speed and Solano looked a little lethargic, as for Dyer, too much Xmas pudding seems to have slowed him down today, and seeing him limp off was very worrying.

Stephen Glass was a good substitution and the game spread well to the left after he came on. He did miss a good chance late on. Gallacher and Kets also had run outs although nothing came from their arrivals, the fact that we had fresh legs in the latter stages made it look as though if anyone were to snatch a winner then it would have been Newcastle . Upfront Shearer again was released to do what he does best, frighten the life out of the opposing defence. Ferguson however didn't shine to much today, possibly due to Liverpool's giant Finnish defender Hyypia, who handled our big man admirably. I was a little disappointed that Newcastle didn't get a few more shots on target. Their keeper didn't seem much good and it was nice to see him squirming on the ground after being pushed over by Big Dunc. He made a meal of the challenge , and I would have luved it, just loved it if the soft dutchman , the arrogant Jorman and the jumped up little scouse kid had gone home empty handed.

To summarise, we took on a top premiership team that hadn't lost for six weeks and gave as much as we got. We were certainly on par with them , it's a shame we only got a point from the game, but things could be worse, we could have been born Makems, they got beat 5 - 0 today.

Merry Xm

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