“Insomnia” never sleeps. Newcastle United v Wigan Athletic match report.
Posted on October 16th, 2010 | 28 Comments |
The first notable piece of news was the absence of usual Captain, Kevin Nolan, who wasn’t even named in the squad. Apparently, it was a minor knock which kept him oput of the fray this afternoon. Danny Guthrie was back from his injury though, with Peter Lovenkrands also making a rare start upfront in place of the mildly crocked Nolan.
To the game itself though. Newcastle seemed to be controlling the opposition, more or less, in the first twenty minutes, though the recently assaulted Hatem Ben Arfa seemed to be sorely missed already, despite only spending a few minutes in a black and white shirt. More creativity of the kind provided by the new Magpie was needed, though a chance for Andy Carroll was crafted around about the quarter hour mark. The Bensham van Basten couldn’t get there though and the ball was well smothered by the Wigan keeper, Ali Al Habsi. This encouraging chance served as a prelude to catastrophe however, with a two minute spell of blunders which led to a two goal brace for ex Magpie, Charles N’Zogbia in the 22nd and 23rd minutes, which turned the match completely on it’s head. Firstly, in a scene somewhat remiscent of Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal against Peter Shilton in the 1986 World Cup, the 5′ 7″ winger seemed to have the abilty to tower above the sleeping 6′ 4″ giant for a good header to find the onion bag. A mere one or two minutes later, it was a case of more embarrassment for Williamson, this time with N’zogbia using his foot rather than his heed to dumbfound the usually dependable centre back. 2-0 and a whole new ball game for wor lads on the pitch. Wigan striker, Franco di Santo also deserved his fair share of credit for the two N’Zogbia goals, proving two very good crosses for the temperamental Joe Kinnear fan.
The Magpies soldiered on with more perspiration than inspiration, and eventually it took the introduction of Fenham Eusebio, Shola Ameobi, in the “Jordan” formation (two very big lumps upfront) to get Newcastle back into the game. Introduced after around an hour, the West End hitman fortunately seems to have picked up the habit of heading the ball into the right place before he falls over nowadays, and so it was this time with a cross from Gutierrez connecting with Shola’s stooping heed which transformed the match and gave Newcastle some heart. 72 minutes, game on for an exciting end to the game.
And so it was with the Toon creating more real chances now, with other big lump, Andy Carroll, getting into the game more with two significant headed chances in what was a bit of a nail biter. As the minutes ticked away however, it looked like Newcastle were heading for another home defeat thanks to the blunders mentioned earlier. Carroll did make a very naughty move when he wrested the ball from the grasp of Al Habsi for the ball to be scrambled into the net in the final minutes, with the effort rightfully being disallowed for handball. During the very last knockings though, today’s captain, Fabricio Coloccini, leapt like a salmon at the far post to finally salvage a draw from the jaws of defeat. Howay Colo!
Newcastle: Tim Krul, James Perch (Nile Ranger 89), Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Danny Guthrie (Wayne Routledge 66), Joey Barton, Cheick Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Peter Lovenkrands (Ameobi 60), Andy Carroll.
Subs: Ole Soderberg, Ryan Taylor, Tamas Kadar, Wayne Routledge, Alan Smith, Nile Ranger, Shola Ameobi.
Wigan: Ali Al Habsi, Ronnie Stam (Tom Cleverly 79), Steven Caldwell, Emerson Boyce, Maynor Figueroa, Antolin Alcaraz, James McCarthy, Jordi Gomez, Hendry Thomas, Charles N’Zogbia Mohamed Diame 90), Franco Di Santo (Hugo Rodallega 65).
Subs: Chris Kirkland, Ben Watson, Mohamed Diame, Tom Cleverley, Victor Moses, Mauro Boselli, Hugo Rodallega.
Referee: Mark Halsey.
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
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