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Older editions so far are :-

Decembers fixtures

I can,t remember ever being as depressed after a football game as i feel right now. We were 2 -0 up after 55 minutes and ended up getting beaten 4 - 2 at Anfield.

Brief report (more tomorrow ----possibly)

28/12/98 Liverpool 4 - 2 Newcastle United .

Newcastle made 3 changes to the team that performed so poorly at home 2 days ago. Dabizas was back on the bench with Pearce at left back and Hughes partnering Howey in the centre of defence. Solano replaces Georgiados and Hamman replaced Lee (injured).

After just 25 seconds Ferguson nearly score from a neat little pass by Shearer. 28 minutes into the game Solano gets the first for Newcastle, It's a cracking start ...things are looking good. This is quickly followed by a huge blow for Newcastle. Hamman is sent off for a second yellow card . No one had even noticed that he had had a first, but he had and we are down to 10 men. We play some good football in the later part of the first half, with Shearer dropping into midfield and Dunc up front on his own.

Second half sees Ferguson going off injured (ham string). Instead of bringing on Dabizas and pushing Shearer upfront, Gullit decides to bring on Adde as a straight swap. i thought it was a bad idea at the time but on the 55 minute mark I (and most of the toon army ) are proved wrong when Anderson nets our second goal.

Unfortunately this second goal wakes up Liverpool and for the rest of the game we are under the kosh,

Owen gets 2 and Riedle get's another two..our lads tried really hard but just couldn't keep them out. No one was really to blame although replacing Glass with Georgiados at 2 - 2 didn't work. Bringing on Dabizas for a shattered Solano did just about stop the onslaught . By that time though the damage had been done. The decisive third Goal for them should never have been allowed as Riedle was clearly seen by everyone bar the ref as handling the ball. The last goal came late on as Newcastle went to 3 at the back in an attempt to get an Equaliser it was a tactic that didn't pay off but they had to try.

Like I say I am gutted. A fuller report along with player ratings will follow tomorrow.

Only one thing can lift morale in the next day or two for me and that would be the arrival of Steve Stone.

Newcastle United 0 - 3 Leeds United

Two changes from last weeks starting eleven. Shearer and Ferguson are on the field together for the first time . We are at full strength whearas Leeds are missing David Batty , Lucas Radebe and Moulinar. They are looking very young and inexperienced in defence .

It's a wet and windy day on Tyneside. The first real chance of the game falls to Shearer in the 13th minute. He gets on the end of a lovely ball from Ferguson who volleys just wide. 2 minutes later the deadly duo are joined by Robert lee in a move that sees us going close but it ends up going out for a corner. Dabizas gets his head to it but again it's wide. At the other end Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is causing a few problems but Dabizas copes well and manages to get away with giving him a good kicking on the 20 minute mark. 37 minutes and Bruno Roberio hammers a ball across from the left. Jimmy Floyd misses the ball completely but following in behind is Aussie wonderkid Harry Kewell . Given has no chance and it's 1 -0 to Leeds. Newcastle's heads don't drop and a couple of minutes Leeds almost score an own goal from a Stephen Glass's corner. In the last minute of the half we get a Free kick but after a scramble in the box it comes to nothing and at half time Newcastle are a goal down.

5 minutes into the half and Warren Barton gets an injury, Looks like a groin strain, He is replaced by Aaron Hughes. Ferguson gets an early chance to get an equaliser Nigel Martin saves. A minute later a great volley by Glass is once again saved by Martin. The corner that comes from the save is directed to Fergusons head, again it misses the target. Newcastle continue their attack, but it all comes to nothing. Shearer and Ferguson just cant get onto the end of any of the few crosses that come their way. Georgiados is no winger and Glass is not as good as usual. Speed and lee are inconspicuous in the centre. Leeds sit back and defend well looking for a quick break. Hughes had coped well with the lively Hasselbaink since he came on t but in the 61st minute Leeds get a second when Harry Kewell gets past Dabizas and shoots. Given gets to it but can't hold it and the ball falls to Bowyer who makes it 2 - 0 .

Ketsbaia comes on for Georgiadis to play the last 30 minutes on the wing. To me though the problem today is in the centre of midfield. Speed and Lee are supposed to create chances for the front two plus get forward into scoring positions as well as stop the opposition from coming straight through the middle. Today neither of them had a good game. Indeed on the occasions when they did get an opportunity to score the ball goes well, well wide. I think that Dabizas should be pushed into the middle at the expense of Speed in future games (with Hughes in the Centre of Defence) The big Greek almost got another in the 80th minute it came from another corner but Nigel Martin made another fantastic save. This was followed by a flashing header from Shearer that beat Martin.....Lee Bowyer cleared it off the line. In the last minute Hasselbaink gets another quick break and another goal. We were certainly a better team than them in the second half . It's just not our day with 2 goals coming from two quick breaks, the only chances that they got in the second half. Stephen Glass is once again our man of the match. I am not sure why Nobby wasn't used, perhaps he has a touch of flu or perhaps he is being saved for the Liverpool game on Monday. (they beat Boro 3 -1 at Tees side today) While we lost 3 - 0 at home.

Merry Xmas......BA HUMBUG

Riks ratings in red

Subs not used, Harper, Solano, Hamman

Newcastle United 1 - 0 Leicester City

Its all change again at St James's park. With Given fully fit again he is back in goal. Dabizas comes in to give extra strength in defence. Midfield sees Georgiadis instead of Solano in Gilly's place. Rob Lee is captain again and pushes Hamman onto the bench. bad news upfront. With Ferguson ill with flu, Adde is still in the team partnering Ketsbaia upfront, On the bench sees Alan Shearer. As he has been out for so long he is not match fit but will no doubt come on in the later stages.

The first good move comes in the 17th minute, Stephen Glass takes the ball on the volley over Sinclair then knocks it around another and takes a shot at Goal. It hits Matt Elliot on the arm, It stops the ball from going in. No Goal no penalty, but a promising move. A couple of minutes later Barton combines well with Glass again, He is very bright today, wish the same could be said of Kets who is very lethargic to start with today. Glass makes the crosses into the box but no one is there to receive them. We are sorely missing Ferguson or Shearer upfront. Shearer gets off the bench to warm himself up and gets a tumultuous reception from the toon army. At the other end Leicester get a couple of corners, but Howey and Dabizas handle handle the aerial threat of Heskey at monster matt Elliot very well. Little comes our way on the right and play moves to the left . Barton and Glass must be our best chance of making something happen today. After half an hour Kets wakes up and gets the ball to Glass he makes a cross but Leicester snatch the ball back and make a quick break . Heskey beats Dabizas and only has Given to beat. He hits it wide and we are saved by the post. Its end to end stuff now. Anderson shoots wide, followed by an even closer effort from Glass. Speed gets in on the act and get his heads to Georgiados cross, It's well saved.

Newcastle do everything but score, If only Shearer was on things could be different, but at half time it is still 0 - 0 .

12 minutes into the second half and on comes Alan Shearer. He replaces Ketsbaia??? Don't know why it wasn't Adde . Once again Anderson is the worst man on the field.

Having said that he does manage not to fall over in the 65th minute. Indeed he gets a ball through to Glass in the box. he hammers it into the top corner and It,s Newcastle united 1 Leicester 0. I new those lucky socks would do the job .(long story) Matt Elliot makes a bad tackle from behind in an attempt to nobble our main man. he does go down hard, but to the delight of the toon army gets up to torment the Leicester defence for the last 20 minutes. The team look a lot more comfortable and settled with Big al back in the team. Midfield looks better with Lee back in the middle and there can be few complaints with the defence. (although Hughes is a better defender than Dabizas). Most importantly though we will be a much more formidable team when Ruudi gets D unk with Shearer on boxing day.

The game finishes 1 - 0 , we move up to 10th place in the league.

Riks ratings in red

Subs not used, Hughes, Harper, Solano, Hamman

Wednesday 16th December

After the Blackburn game. Secret talks were held between managers and directors of both clubs regarding the transfer of Keith Gillespie. The outcome being that 48 hours later Gilly joins Blackburn for a fee of £2.35 million. Keith was a good player on his day he could be brilliant, but Ruud is after a player that can get the crosses in week in week out. We got our moneys worth out of Gillespie, he only cost a million and we would have lost him for nothing at the end of the season. I liked him as a player and wish him all the best at his new club. I just hope that his eventual replacement will be a better all round and more consistent player than Keith Gillespie was for us. With Ruud Gullit in charge I strongly believe that his judgment and decisions will be the right ones and soon we will have a world class winger on our books.

Blackburn Rovers 0 - 0 Newcastle United

Riks ratings in red

Bit of a scrappy game nothing much happens in the first half. Harper does everything that is asked of him, The defence are OK , the midfield pretty poor, with no one getting forward to support the isolated Ferguson . Anderson has another Anderson type half,. I don't know why he played in the first place. This has got to be his last chance. The second half starts just the same for us , Harper makes another good save in the early part of the second half. In the 65th minute Hughes who has had a good steady game is replaced by super sub Dabizas. Unless we get a corner though we wont be able to score.(we don't and so we don't). Andersson who STILL has done nothing is replaced by the unpredictable Ketsbaia. In the 72nd Minute a penalty is given away by Glass, when Nathan Blake goes down. Jeff Kenna steps up to take it and hits the post , Action Replays show that Harper just got the slightest of touches on it and gets us off the hook. In the 82nd minute Ruud Gullit plays his last card, Georgios Georgiadis comes onto the right wing, Solano goes to the left and Stephen Glass comes off. It makes no difference as neither team looked capable of scoring in the latter stages. It ends Goalless, but with the teams beneath us both winning we move down to 15th in the league. Ruud Gullit says he is not happy with the performance s of certain individuals. He neither confirms nor denies the rumour going around that he is about to sign BA.

Subs not used, Barnes, Peter Keen (young keeper, looks like curtains for Perez)

With the news that Shearer is out for TWO more weeks and Griffin is out for 6 weeks, I can see a new player coming very soon to once again boost moral and improve on the overall quality of our team.

Middlesbourgh 2 - 2 Newcastle United

Riks ratings in red

Subs not used perez (thank goodness, and Hamman

The first 10 minutes had Newcastle on the ropes, culminating in a goal around the 13 minute mark, A gazza corner found Townsend unmarked who hammered the ball in past harper who couldn't get to the well struck wall. Newcastle came back and from a set piece around the 35 minute mark Ferguson headed the ball into a crowded penalty area, It was headed clear by a defender only as far as Charvet who took the ball on the volley . It was one of the shots of the season, the ball broke the back of the net and at half time it was all square.

Boro came out in the second half as well as they had in the first. but in the first 10 minutes of this half a new Local Hero was born.

Steve harper was absolutely brilliant. First saving low down from a shot destined far the far corner, then again 2 minutes later he made a fantastic save from a shot that came thundering through the United Defence. Once again he got down well having seen the ball at the last minute to save Newcastle once again. he took the ball well from the corner that followed and Newcastle came back into the game. that was until around the hour mark when Cooper took a shot, Aaron Hughes who had had a good game so far got a leg to it it but the ball bounced from his leg and over the hapless Harper who stood no chance.

Solano had been replaced by Glass in the second half, Anderson now came off and on came Dalglish, Neither of these subs did the trick . Although they had reasonable games they were not any better than their predecessors. with 10 minutes to go Gullit played his ace in the form of Nicos Dabizas. He went straight up front and from a cross from Charvet , headed over the keeper to square the match. It was an inspired substitution that saved us on the day. Gazza had a canny game for Boro, but came off as he was KNACKERED. There was only one team that looked like they would win in the last few minutes and that was the Toon. All in all we had 20 shots on target as opposed to 10 from Boro. They eventually ran out of time but the lads all played very well and we are starting to look like a team again. When Shearer returns, there is only one direction in which the team will go and that is UP > UP> UP>

well done lads although we didn't win I was pleased to see a good all round performance. My man of the match. STEVE HARPER.