Newcastle United 3, Middlesbrough 1
May 12 2009 By Luke Edwards, The Journal
Tuncay deserves plenty of praise for a delightful turn on the edge of the area which took him and the ball past Habib Beye. Steve Harper, though, had seen the danger and spread himself to smother at the feet of the Turkish international – only for the ball to squirm free. Beye did not have a chance, the ball spinning under his feet as he tried to recover his position and he inadvertently knocked it into his own net. It was the sort of disaster a side with such fragile confidence can ill afford at any stage of the game, let alone with less than four minutes on the clock.
Newcastle needed to get back into it quickly, but there was no luck on offer again when Viduka’s sweetly-struck volley clattered into the post, with Steven Taylor hooking a follow-up chance high over the bar.
It did not bode well for those in black and white, but they were level moments later as the weight of their pressure smashed through the visiting defence.
Guthrie’s corner was a dangerous one, but Matthew Bates will surely be asked why he allowed Taylor to run beyond him to plant a powerful header inside the far corner from eight yards.
The roar from inside St James’s Park must have the rocked the windows of the houses on Leazes Terrace and the Magpies sensed another breakthrough would come quickly. And it would have, had it not been for a sharp save by Brad Jones, the Australian tipping Owen’s glancing header over the bar after the sublime Viduka had skipped away from two Boro defenders with a shake of his boot.
Newcastle were pressing hard and, for the first time in weeks, perhaps months, looked good doing it.
Yet, in games like these, there are always counter-attacks and Boro should have restored the lead after half an hour.
Harper was bamboozled by a shot from Emnes which he just about kept out with his feet. But when Sebastien Bassong failed to clear the bouncing ball, Emnes did superbly to create room for the shot, only to stab it the wrong side of the post with just Newcastle’s goalkeeper to beat.
Newcastle were again the brighter of the two sides straight after the interval, Viduka flicking the ball just wide before setting up Guthrie for a shot which somehow managed to deflect off Mohamed Shawky for a corner.
Yet Boro knew United would be vulnerable to quick breaks as they committed men forward and it took a strong save from Harper to turn away Gary O’Neil’s strike just before the hour mark.
Newcastle, though, could not be denied, Martins’ impact was instant and as Boro’s self-belief drained away and the prospect of Championship football engulfed one, they added a third.
And let us not forget the impact of another substitute, Peter Lovenkrands, a free transfer signing by a sick former manager in Joe Kinnear. The Danish international was supposedly finished when he came to Newcastle, but he made sure of victory when he thumped home Nolan’s pinpoint cross for his third goal for the club. Heroes in black and white were suddenly everywhere you looked.
