Toon dodge the bullet! Accrington Stanley 2-3 Newcastle.
Posted on August 26th, 2010 | 145 Comments |
The catchy advert once said ‘Accrington Stanley….. Who are they?’, and I can pretty much safely say that a largely second-string Newcastle side will know full well just who Accrington Stanley are now.
A decent game with chances at either end probably yielded the correct result come full-time, although if it wasn’t for a combination of poor finishing, the woodwork and some good goalkeeping then the score could have been much higher, for either side in fairness.
Newcastle made most of the running as the game got underway, something you would expect a Premier League team to do against opposition that sits a full three leagues below them, with Nile Ranger looking particularly lively.
The score stayed at 0-0 until the 36th minute when Ryan Taylor unleashed an unstoppable shot from 25-yards that beat the Accrington ‘keeper, Ian Dunbavin all ends up and sailed into the back of the net. It really was a cracking goal from Ryan Taylor, but Accrington levelled on the stroke of half-time with a cracker of their own courtesy of Ray Putterill.
So the score was 1-1 at half-time and it was probably no more than the effort, commitment and tough-tackling of the League 2 side deserved. Scoring just before the interval gave Stanley a reason to believe that an upset could still be on the cards, and that is how they started off in the second-half.
Indeed they could have made it 2-1 just after the restart had Charlie Bennett’s shot from the edge of the area not drifted just past the post. But just a minute later Newcastle regained the lead through Shola Ameobi, who spun and fired the ball into the net from a Peter Lovenkrands knock down.
From then on Newcastle looked in control and deservedly made it 3-1 through Peter Lovenkrands on 67 minutes, the Dane volleying home at the second time of asking from Lua Lua’s cross. It could have been 4-1 to the away side had it not been for Kazenga Lua Lua hitting the post in stoppage time. From that though, Accrington rushed up the other end and made it 3-2 in the dying moments through Sean Hessey.
That was how the game ended, and having got in from work and watched it for myself I must say I was pretty entertained. There aren’t many good old fashioned cup ties around these days, but the match last night most definately was one.
Newcastle now go through to the draw for the next round of the competition which takes place on Saturday, but an honourable mention must go to Accrington Stanley for giving it a real good go, and to their fans for the Sir Bobby banners. That was the touch of class that you just don’t get from fans in the Premier League.
Howay the lads!
Accrington Stanley – Ian Dunbavin, Jonathan Bateson, Dean Winnard, Sean Hessey, Andrew Procter, James Ryan, Charlie Barnett, Ray Putterill, Sean McConville, Phil Edwards, Andy Parkinson.
Newcastle – Tim Krul, Ryan Taylor, James Tavernier, Tamas Kadar, Shane Ferguson, Nile Ranger, Ryan Donaldson, Haris Vuckic, Kazenga Lua Lua, Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands.
Subs – Ole Soderberg, James Perch, Mike Williamson, Alan Smith, Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton, Wayne Routledge.
Attendance – 4,098.
Referee – Rob Shoebridge.
that was a great experience for the young’ns … and ensures that they get another run out in the next round.
Some real positives as well with good displays all round.
Roll on Saturday … I’ve got m’ tickets … :)