Ram raid! Derby 3 Newcastle 0
Posted on February 9th, 2010 | 50 Comments |
Like many, I was restricted to radio commentary and Deb, who was unfortunate enough to be there, will provide us with the gory details all in good time, though some of us may not have the stomach for it. Hughton named an unchanged side, much to the delight of supporters who thought he might revert to a more defensive formation and there was undeniable confidence that we could do some real damage but it all went horribly wrong.
In truth, it sounded like neither side would be capable of creating much in the first half but with minutes remaining until the break, Leon Best of all people was left exposed and when Kris Commons beat him to whip in a cross, Rob Hulse could apparently not fail to score to make it 1-0. Commons was a name mooted by many Mags during the transfer window and would undoubtedly have proven a great acquisition.
As it was, he spent much of tonight tormenting us and when Jonas brought down Michael Tonge, needlessly by all accounts, Commons was on hand to put the penalty kick away. With the black and whites in disarray, Barker put the contest beyond doubt when he capitalised on an uncleared corner to fire through the melee and make it 3-0 and virtually game over.
Despite bringing on all three substitutes, Newcastle never genuinely looked like getting back into the game and the team against who we’ve now collected only two points from a possible twelve in our last four meetings, saw out the game determinedly and resolutely.
The result combined with West Brom’s 2-0 win, means we drop from top spot but with a game in hand. No doubt a kick in the ar*e and some dented pride for all involved but it’s certainly not the first time we’ve played badly this season, just this time we didn’t get away with it. All we can do is dust ourselves down and get on with the next game.
Us – Harper, Simpson, Hall, Williamson, van Aanholt, Routledge, Nolan, Guthrie, Gutierrez, Carroll, Best
Subs – Krul, Kadar, Pancrate, Lovenkrands, Ameobi, Donaldson, Smith
Derby – Bywater, McEveley, Green, Savage, Hulse, Commons, Barker, Pearson, Buxton, Tonge, Hunt
Subs – Teale, Porter, Deeney, Moxey, Martin, Anderson, Vidal
Att – 28, 607 (with somewhere in the region of 3,000 Mags in good voice once again)
NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag
bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.
3,100 mags.
The real test is Swansea on saturday, seeing how we bounce back or not will be a good pointer as to where will end up.