One thought as I looked through the options from the bench during the half time break – if Steve Taylor or Colo take a knock we could end up with a back four of Simpson, Perch, R Taylor and Colo/ S Taylor. That is a very worrying prospect. Surely Kadar on the bench would be a safer option?

I wouldn’t mind seeing Marveaux get some extended playing time in the final 45. Maybe Sam Ameobi too.

46 – Ball played into Agbonlahor’s feet. He easily brushes Simpson off the ball, swivels and shoots wide. Most of the ground thought it was 2 v 0.

49 – The linesman gives a free kick for an imaginary foul on Bannan. Fortunately Krul takes it easily.

52 – Tiote robbed by Bent 25 yards from goal – he really needs to stop lingering on the ball. Fortunately S Taylor and Colo mop up and clear the danger.

55 – Tiote caught in possession on the half way line – Bent breaks and crosses but Krul again claims easily.

56 – One of these days Cabaye is going to score a world class goal – Obertan plays a sideways pass and his lash is saved by Given.

56 – GGGOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Leon Best! Fantastic cross in by Tiote from the left. Besty gets his nut on it, Given saves but Leon knocks in the rebound. 1 v 1 and more than deserved.
I might be wrong with this stat, but I am sure that is Bestys 9th goal in 13 league starts.

60 – The heavens have opened and it is pouring down! I wonder if that will have any impact on the game.

62 – Petrov booked for a foul on Best 25 yards from goal. It looks like that one has hurt our goal scorer. RT lines it up and this time it is Ryan Taylor over the wall. Unfortunately its over the cross bar too.

66 – Demba Ba has looked pretty good today. He collects the ball, dummies smartly and strikes a shot that Given saves.

67 – Bannan and Petrov off, Ireland and Albrighton on. The Villa fans aren’t impressed so they aim a few BOOOO’s at the former Birmingham gaffa. A few boo’s from the away end aimed at Ireland too. One of the most pointless signings in Newcastle United history and there have been a few!

68 – Best off, Shola on. Leon clearly didn’t recover from the injury sustained when Petrov was booked.

71 – Steve Taylor miscues and Bent is through. Krul rushes from his line and Bent lobs him but it’s a poor effort that Steve Taylor gets back in to clear.

74 – Flashes of lightening overhead and it looks like a storm is brewing. I assume this is the result of a microclimate caused by having two Ameobi’s so close together.

76 – N’Zogbia skips past a couple of players and whips the ball across the area. Well defended.

78 – Cabaye over runs the ball and loses it. Tiote then cuts out a through ball but plays it straight to Albrighton who shoots wide of Krul’s left hand post.

79 – Ba off, Marveaux on. Ba can be pleased with his efforts today. He is improving and looking a bit more like the player I was expecting.

80 – N’Zogbia plays a short corner to Albrighton who crosses and Krul does well to punch clear under pressure.

82 – A long throw from Ryan Taylor is chested down by Shola and well struck at goal by Cabaye. Given saves, though I don’t think it would have stood as there was a whistle.

85 – Jonas off, Sam Ameobi on. Bent off, Delfonueso on. Bent had two superb chances and blew both of them. That’s why he’s not England class.

85 – Another cracking strike from Cabaye and it ends with something I have seen hundreds of times before – a phenomenal Shay Given save!

86 – Sam Ameobi netted a brilliant goal chipping Given from a very difficult angle way out left. Unfortunately play was stopped for yet another Villa free kick but it looked good all the same!

89 – Obertan absolutely skins Warnock knocking the ball round him one way and chasing after it around the other. It doesn’t come to anything but it was a nice bit of skill.

90 – Marveaux plays the ball to Cabaye who opts to shoot from the angle when there were players lining up for the pass! I will let him off though, he’s been brilliant today.

In summary:
A very, very encouraging performance. We totally bossed the game and Cabaye was once again outstanding. Admittedly it wasn’t the most exciting game I’ve ever seen, but I wasn’t sure that we would take anything out of this so I am pleased with the point and the performance.

The crowd? 34,248 – the biggest crowd of the season at Villa Park(!) and many of them prefer booing to cheering as they demonstrated at full time.

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I enjoyed the ‘as live’ blogging that I did for the QPR game, so today will be much of the same with a half time match report posted and then a full time second half report uploaded when the game is over.

Tough game at Villa Park today. I know they are no great shakes, but our recent record down there is poor. They have a lot of pace in attack which is something that we struggled to cope with at Loftus Road on Monday night – lets hope we can keep a clean sheet again today as we did then.

Starting lineup:
Shola apparently has a slight knock so is downgraded to the bench.

Newcastle legend Shay Given keeps goal for the home team. N’Zogbia starts too.

Krul, Simpson, R Taylor, Colo ©, S Taylor, Tiote, Cabaye, Jonas, Obertan, Best Ba

First observation – empty seats. Very poor fans these. There can’t be more than little over 30,000 in the ground.

5 – Quiet start from both. Newcastle look quite settled and the first chance of the game is a lash from Cabaye that looked like it might sneak in, but it snuck wide of Given’s post.

8 – Best fouled by N’Zogbia. Ryan Taylor has a lash but this time fails to get it over the wall!

13 – GOAL: 1 v 0 to Villa. The ball comes off Colo and falls perfectly for Agbonlahor who finished well. Krul had no chance. Against the run of play. Colo could probably have been tighter to the Villa man and certainly should have been stronger. Agbonlahor’s third of the season.

15 – Bannan takes a lash with his left foot and it is not far away at all.

23 – Through ball to Ba who was flagged off side. He caught Given on the wrist in the incident. Given seems OK, but one to watch.

24 – Newcastle look short on ideas again as Tiote and Simpson repeatedly knock the ball between each other leading to the inevitable hoof. Best mis-controlled, Villa broke and Darren Bent misses an absolutely brilliant chance to make it two.

26 – Corner – Cabaye swings the ball outwards, Taylor does very well to get a shot on target saved by Given. Comes back out to Taylor but there’s little he can do with it. Goal kick.
28 – Cabaye slips a ball through to Leon Best. He’s off side – the first of many I’m sure.

29 – Petrov takes a pot shot from about 35 yards. Not too far away.

30 – Ball into the box from Simpson, flicked on from Best and falls to Jonas who lashes wildly high and wide.

So far this is panning out as I fear many games might this season. We have played well, but there is an obvious lack of cutting edge in the final third.

32 – Steve Taylor clears with a header and Obertan breaks. Ball is played into Ba who swivels and shoots. Deflected for a corner. Not a lot achieved from the resulting corner.

33 – Ryan Taylor beats his man and whips it in left footed. Corner off Petrov. Cabaye takes a great corner right across the area but Obertan puts it wide with no conviction at all. Again – no cutting edge.

Despite trailing it is the away fans generating all of the noise – as you would expect. They’d have a lot more to sing about if we had a striker.

40 – Fifth corner of the half for us. Cabaye crosses, headed clear.

We are dominating possession and a lot of it is in dangerous areas. Villa, true to the McLeish way of football, are relying on long hoofs in the direction of Bent aiming to get in behind.

Half time and we trail 1 v 0. We have been by far the better team and as much as I hate to repeat myself, if we had a goal scorer in the team it could be very different.

It will be interesting to see how we come out in the second half. It will be difficult for Pardew to keep the lads heads up as it is frustrating enough watching, let alone playing. If we can maintain this performance we should sneak a goal, somehow.

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Well here we go for round two. I still think we can win it!
No half time changes from either side. I know I would have.

45 – It took QPR all of 25 seconds to get their first shot at goal of the half. Easy take for Krul.

46 – Shola pulled back by Ferdinand on the edge of the area after Jonas loops a ball over. The officials missed it and then Paddy Kenny fell over like an idiot.

Can we not get Shola to envisage Ferdinand in a mackem shirt?

48 – Cross in from Danny Simpson, Best gets half a head to it and JONAS…. Well you know the rest. It sort of went upwards and slightly backwards.

50 – Traore picks up an injury and is replaced by Connolly – who is ushered onto the field by Keith Curle. Where’s Tino when you need him?

Continued pressure from QPR. We are continuing the trend of HOOOOFF. I wonder what was said at half time? Not much apparently.

A scrappy period of the game and a couple of stoppages – Jonas receiving some treatment.

61 – Corner swung in from Cabaye – Kenny beats Colo to it and punches clear.

62 – Tiote booked for a foul on Barton who rolled about like those cheaters he so despises.

63 – Shola off, Ba on. Shola can just take off his top and keep it for the weekend. Probably won’t need a wash.

65 – QPR corner finds Shaun Derry. Great chance, awful technique. That’s why he hasn’t scored a goal in five years.

Our players seem terrified when the ball is at their feet. Just now (68), Danny Simpson picked up the ball just inside of the QPR half and hoofed it hard and low as far as he could into no mans land.

Since Pardew arrived we are regularly poor after long international breaks.

69 – Barton plays in Wright-Phillips (I’m going to copy & paste that name) , he looks for Bothroyd again but thankfully the big fella cant reach it again. And to think that this bloke has played for England.

Barton has been much more involved in the second half. Starting to look threatening.

72 – Derry gets his bonse to another corner but Tiote’s coverage prevents him from doing anything.

74 – The ball finds its way to Jonas 19 yards out. Another abysmal swinger from the long haired Argentinian. Look out row Z.

76 – Ball whipped in and Obertan is on the end of it. He shoulders it wide.

77 – Jonas drives on forward into the corner and pulls it back down the line to Ryan Taylor who misses the ball. Its one of those nights for him. I’d still fancy him lashing a free kick in from 25 yards though.

78 – Bothroyd off and Newcastle nemesis DJ Campbell on. Not a good thing.

80 – Ryan Taylor cross, half chance for Obertan but he headers wide.

81 – Best off for Marveaux

82 – Wright-Phillips skips past Tiote with a drop of the shoulder and curls a shot wide of the top corner.

84 – Free kick to us, 23 yards from goal. Could it be?
Nope – its Ryan Taylor, into the wall.

86 – A yellow for Steve Taylor as Paddy Kelly, looking in the opposite direction, runs straight into him.

87 – Sam Ameobi on, Obertan off.
Puncheon on, MotM Wright-Phillips off

88 – Tidy triangular football between Tiote and Marveaux ends at Ryan Taylor who, under pressure, half slices half clears it.

89 – Barton fouls Sammy in the corner but the officials don’t give it. Barton then gives him a nudge on the floor and does a bit of a square up. Big man.

Full time: Queens Park Rangers 0 v Newcastle United 0

Not pretty and very fortunate, but I will take it.
This lifts us up to fourth in the table.

Sean Wright-Phillips was the best player on the park and I’d struggle to name a standout from our lads. Steven Taylor maybe?

Joey Barton? 6/10 and asked to swap tops with Leon Best after hugging most of our players. He got a great ovation from the away end at the end with chants of “There’s only one Joey Barton”. I will never boo him nor will I ever sing his name again.

Entertaining first half, pretty poor second half for the neutrals. We need to vastly improve.

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OK I am writing this as the game goes on – a minute by minute account of how it goes. Lets see how this idea works out!

Krul, Simpson, R Taylor, S Taylor, Colo ©, Jonas, Cabaye, Tiote, Obertan, Shola, Best

No place for Gosling on the bench, though not yet sure why. Santon on the bench.

Barton Captaining QPR…..

2 – Decent show of pace by Obertan and his cross finds Best, who handles it. QPR free kick, but encouraging.

4 – Ryan Taylor fouls Wright-Phillips. That is a mismatch in terms of pace and could be a problem. Shola booked for refusing to retreat 10 yards.

5 – First shot is a long ranger from Taarabt. No problem for Krul. We respond with a big boot that almost catches them out as Best lurks, but Kenny gathers it in.

8 – Cross from the QPR left (Simpson well out of position as he has been a lot this season), but fortunately it lands on the head of 2 foot 1 Wright-Phillips. Great chance, but he missed.

Some pretty big units in this QPR side. We need to limit set pieces in and around our area.

10 – Corner to us after a quick counter attack. We take a short corner (one of my pet hates) and don’t even manage to get it into the box.

12 – Absolute class from Leon Best. Great turn and a superb early strike very well saved by Kenny down to his right.

Jay Bothroyd is wearing bright yellow boots. Shouldn’t be allowed.

14 – Seconds after I commented on his boots, Bothroyd missed a brilliant chance. Ball in from Wright-Phillips who is looking lively. Ryan Taylor nowhere to be seen.

15 – Brilliance from Taarabt takes out three men. Wright Phillips shoots wide. Warnock almost cries on the touchline because he wanted a corner.

I wonder how far Anton Ferdinand would have gone in the game if he had a different surname. Not very I suspect.

19 – Barton collects the ball on the edge of the area, gets booed by the away fans, gets tackled.

21 – More brilliance from Taarabt with a turn of Colo and a meg of Tiote. Again the ball goes to Wright-Phillips who whips one in and again Bothroyd misses, unable to reach it.

24 – Tiote commits his third foul of the night – this one on Barton. Probably get booked for his next one.

26 – Ryan Taylor skinned again by Wright-Phillips, scramble in the box – Steve Taylor does a great job on Bothroyd. Corner
Simpson clears off the line from that corner – Bothroyd beating Steve Taylor in the air. We are all over the place.

32 – Wright-Phillips shoots from long range and it goes miles over the bar. Quite impressive that the little lad can kick the ball that far.

I will write about one of our attacks when we have one, I promise.
At least their incessant attacks have subdued.

34 – What is Alan Pardew doing on the pitch? No wait, its Shaun Derry and he is booked for a very poor tackle on Leon Best.

38 – Another great threaded ball puts Wright-Phillips away. He lobs Krul from an angle but Steve Taylor heads off the line. How we are still level is a mystery.

On the odd occasion that we get the ball our tactics appear to be HOOOOOOFFFFFFFFF and hope for the (Leon) best.

43 – Another free kick for another Ryan Taylor foul on Wright-Phillips. I like Ryan but he has to go off at half time. They swing the ball in and a few dive at it but it drifts out of play.

44 – A half chance for us. Decent ball in from Ryan Taylor but Best fails to connect properly with the header.

45 +3 - A little bit of pressure after a run from Jonas, but it comes to nothing.

Half time – 0 v 0 but all QPR.

Pardew needs a serious tactical rethink. They seem to want it more and our constant, desperate hoofs are a waste of some very good technical players. Jonas also hobbled about for the last couple of minutes after taking a knock

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It is nice having a team in the league that gives you easy points every season. It's even nicer when they are your most fierce rivals. For the second time this calendar year their widespread threats and promises of 'revenge' for the 5 v 1 humiliation last Halloween proved unfounded as we picked up our first three points of the season.

Before I get into the game I'll comment on the performance of World Cup Final referee Howard Webb. As he demonstrated in that game, the biggest stage of all, he seems absolutely terrified to make big decisions.

First of all he totally missed an absolutely blatant handball on the goal-line by Sebastian Larsson. His assistant also missed it and suggested to Webb that it should be a corner. Larsson ran to the same assistant moments earlier and clearly told him that the ball hit him in the face. Despicable cheating - let's see if it provokes as much debate in the national media over the coming days that last week’s incidents vs Arsenal did..... Though Larsson/ Sunderland may not be significant enough. The home side should have been reduced to ten with a lot of time to go and Ameobi would have put us one up from the resulting penalty (he never misses!) Thankfully it didn't cost us anything in the long run, but it was not good enough.

Webb took the same approach with Cattermole as he did with De Jong in his awful World Cup Final display. His refusal to book him after two terrible first half tackles meant that the regularly banned midfielder was free to carry on his assaults of our players in the second half - Jonas taking the worst of them and Cattermole finally went into the book. Cattermole is an absolute liability for that lot - not just because of his regular bans but his foul on Jonas gave us the free kick that we scored from. He injured Beye and Barton for the long term the year that we went down and I fear that it's only a matter of time before he puts someone else out of the game for a long the long term. He would have been sent off by a referee who called what happened rather than constantly trying to appease the home fans.

The luckiest man on the park was Coloccini. Our captain could easily have spent the night in hospital following an absolutely brutal, cynical tackle from Bardsley. Slow motion replays show Bardsley look up at Colo a split second before going in hard with his studs up on Colo's planted leg. It's amazing that he didn't smash it. Webb, true to form, gave him a second yellow card - not the straight red that the tackle so obviously deserved. Bardsley will now pick up a 1 game ban rather than the 3 (minimum) that the foul deserved. Replays also showed Webb apparently picking up a comment in his ear piece before judging what had happened - shame he couldn't have done that on the penalty call. All in all it was a 0/10 performance for Howard. Fortunately for him the game was not on live TV.

Tim Krul won't enjoy many easier games than this one. A couple of routine saves were required and not a lot more.

Sunderland had quite a bit of early possession and territorial advantage but they offered little threat. I think I could play up front for Sunderland. Gyan's (a very poor man’s Oba Martins) game involved taking ridiculous shots from anywhere and everywhere - most of them barely even reached Krul.

Following some good performances of late that ended in disappointing draws, Tuesday night was a huge game for us.

The conditions at St Andrew's were awful - the pitch resembled a post-carny Newcastle Town Moor despite having been relayed in the pre-season!

Birmingham have a number of former Newcastle players in their ranks - Oba Martins obviously being one of them. The last time Oba and Newcastle were in Birmingham at the same time it ended in relegation for NUFC. We have made a lot of progress since that day. In 21 months since then, Oba has scored a paltry four league goals in three different countries.

Having conceded early on so often recently it was refreshing to see us fly into an early lead - Jonas played a great ball into the area and Lovenkrands netted with an excellent finish. There were only 96 seconds on the clock.

Maybe I should just copy and paste most of last weeks match report.

Yet again I went into the game in the mind set that I would happily have taken a draw and yet again I left feeling disappointed at a draw because of a late goal conceded.

It is such a shame that we did not learn anything from the week before.

The departure of Wayne Routledge earlier in the week added to the injuries and suspensions left us short of options which is what made the overall performance so pleasing. If Nolan had not managed to overcome his virus we would literally have struggled to name 4 in midfield. I am not Routledge's biggest fan but having him in the squad is better than having no one.
In fact he could have been a useful inclusion - early in the game Gareth Bale hobbled off with a back injury and was replaced by (booed on) Sebastian Bassong.
Bassong is not the most mobile player and playing out of position it was something we could
have exposed.

Theory was that Wayne's departure must have meant Pardew was ready to bring in a replacement with Sean Wright-Phillips mooted, but I can't see us making a move for anyone anytime soon.

On the injuries - are these a result of a different training regime or is it just because of the busy Christmas period? There haven't been too many games in the past couple of weeks which does make you wonder. Our age old bad habit of rushing players back too early is something that we need to stop - I was dismayed to hear that Dan Gosling's knee problem may have flared up and that is why he was missing.

Anyway, back to the game!

I must admit, I was not too confident going in to this game. With Carroll and Tiote missing and the Stevenage debacle fresh in mind I would have agreed to take a draw before kick off. Funny then that come full time I was disappointed that we only left with a draw because we comprehensively outplayed them in all areas, again.

The team from the village of the damned were seeking only their 2nd home win over the boys from the big City up the road in three decades, but it soon became obvious that they would not have it all their own way as many of them (including their plastic Geordie manager) assumed they would.

Bruce spent a lot of time in the past 2 weeks talking about 'revenge' and what song he would play to wind up the Newcastle fans at full time after they'd beaten us. I have no idea what song he chose - 'Loser' by Beck would be my suggestion, or maybe 'Bigmouth Strikes Again' by The Smiths.

It took only a couple of minutes for Newcastle to forge their first chance - Joey Barton played a fantastic ball through to Shola putting him one on one with Gordon. Shola slotted it past the keeper but it also went wide of the post - a truly awful effort.

Not too long after that Harper saved well from the largely anonymous Darren Bent as the opening minutes were played at an incredible tempo.

What next for NUFC? Your guess is as good as mine. Our form is impossible to predict and this past 8 days have shown that to be the case more than ever before.

Despite our very impressive away form I could not see us picking up much from the Emirates. I would have been delighted to accept a draw before the game took place, but by full time we had 3 points in the bag along with a clean sheet and it was well deserved.

We were solid from back to front. Tim Krul was superb, pulling off a great save from Nasri, but also showing a mature head in slowing the game down when necessary and communicating better with his back 4 than he has done up until now.

Danny Simpson put in his best performance since arriving and our other fullback was yet again superb. The way Jose dominated Walcott made the England man look like a schoolboy playing against a seasoned pro.

Right - I have almost sobered up (it is Tuesday evening), so where do I begin? 5 v 1 - haha! Unbelievable.

The most common feedback on the game that I have read from mackems has been along the lines of "The ref was your 12th man" and "We will still finish above you". Both of those statements make me laugh even more. When I woke up on Monday morning I felt like I had spent 48 hours doing constant sit-up's. My stomach was aching from all of the laughing that we did on Sunday night.

The truth hurts them and the truth is that we out-fought, out-played and out-everythinged (to sum it up I had to create a new word) them in every area of the pitch.

I honestly don't know where to start! That was amazing. What kind of football team can lose at home to Blackpool and then go away to Goodison and win, then rock up to Stamford Bridge and score FOUR! The wonderful world of Newcastle United Football Club.

I got into the ground just in time for kick off after the inevitable pre match beers and looking down at the line up's I thought we would do very well to walk away with a respectable defeat. They fielded several 'first teamers' whilst for us only Colo started in Saturday's excellent win at Everton.

Saturday was painful. I don't think any fan predicted a defeat at home to Blackpool, and judging by the way the players performed I think that they also assumed that three points were on their way. The similarities to some of the performances in the 08/09 relegation were frightening - the home defeat to Hull stands out more than any.

As we all know, Blackpool came up with us last season - though we finished 32 points ahead of them with a goal difference that was 39 better. We absolutely hammered them 4 v 1 at SJP and the key to that result and performance was targeting Stephen Crainey at right back. We destroyed them down the wings, so to see us pretty much ignore Routledge and Jonas on Saturday in favour of constant big hoofs down the middle was bemusing.

Blackpool Blog: DJ Dances to Ollie's Tune Again

Holloway completely out-thought Hughton. Blackpool were better organised and far easier on the eye than the one up front big boot merchants.

Chris Hughton took the brave decision to drop all 11 players from the 6 v 0 Villa win to field a very young side in the League Cup 2nd round on Wednesday night. Not only did the gamble pay off, but it also showed the fans that we do have strength in depth, albeit through a very talented crop of teenagers.

The starting XI contained no fewer than six players aged 19 or under and only one player over 30 (Lovenkrands – though promising youngster Shola will hit the big 3 0 soon) and the average age of the side was 21. If Andy Carroll had started instead of Lovenkrands the average age would have been down to 20.

The game was amazing. Talking with the lads before kick off, opinions on what the outcome would be were mixed - a draw being the most common prediction. I went for a 2 v 1 win and, believe it or not, no one predicted a 6 v 0 slaughter!

Villa started reasonably brightly setting up with a very attacking formation. Early on their tactic of the long ball over the top aiming to capitalise on Ashley Young's pace looked like it might reap some rewards. We looked threatening as we broke too, but when Steve Harper (who looked unsettled throughout the first half) gave away the penalty for a rash challenge on Young (who made the most of it, though it was a penalty to be fair), it looked like we would be chasing the game. Carew stepped up and lashed the ball over the bar – the miss sent the Gallowgate end delirious and all of a sudden our players looked even more energetic.

If Newcastle fans were honest with themselves (as most are) then this result was fairly predictable. When the fixtures were revealed a couple of months ago I was dismayed that we didn’t have a home tie vs a bottom half team to maintain last seasons momentum, but all in all at least this fixture (arguably the toughest of the season) is out of the way and we managed not to ship 6 like our automatic promotion rivals did at Chelsea.

Having been somewhat destroyed by Chelsea at home 2-0, next up we faced the might of Stoke City away in what was deemed as a must-win game. We drew 1-1. Granted, we played pretty poorly for most of the game, there were a few positives to take from this game.

Firstly, other than Middlesbrough beating Hull City, other teams around us also were beaten. Hull (as mentioned), Sunderland and also Blackburn Rovers all lost, meaning that we are just two points off safety, one behind local rivals Sunderland.

Having gained an unlikely point from Stamford Bridge and also from the Smoggies away at The Riverside with two back-to-back scoreless draws, it seems that Joe Kinnear is bringing some much needed stability to our battered and bruised football club. The point at Stamford Bridge was a hugely uplifting and deserved result at a stadium where we would normally concede three or four goals and go home very fed up. The team showed fight and spirit, whilst super Shay Given proved once more that he is one of the greatest goalkeepers in the land with a string of superb saves, repeating the achievement a week later at Boro. Also worth a special mention is the huge improvement seen in the heart of our defence, with Fabricio 'the hair' Coloccini and Sebastian Bassong putting in memorable shifts recently, the latter looking excellent, especially considering his tender years.

I have to say that although I do not want Kinnear to stay as manager in the long run by any means, I am pleased that he has been given the job at least until the end of this season. He will bring fight and determination to the team, as well as some (probably short term) stability that should see us avoid relegation with ease judging by recent performances. Also, he has stated recently that funds will be available in January to strengthen our tiny squad, without the need to sell. However, if I remember rightly, isn't this what Keegan said, only to be left somewhat embarassed and humiliated by a disastrous regime that broke promises? Kinnear has also insisted that he is the man who chooses the players to bring in, with Dennis 'inch-high, private-eye' Wise simply given the task of going out and getting them, which is surely what should have happened whilst Kev was the boss. Strange, eh?

After a truly horrific display against local rivals Sunderland on Saturday, we battled hard for a much-needed 2-1 win against West Brom on Tuesday night. After putting in a surprisingly decent first half in which we could and should have scored more than the two goals we got, things were running smoothly.

It took only nine minutes for us to break the deadlock. A wonderful through ball from the hopefully rehabilitated Joey Barton allowed Shola Ameobi to run at their last man, only for the naive Ryan Donk to bring our very own Pele down with a clumsy tackle. Barton clutched the ball and pelted home the penalty, his second goal for us and his his second penalty for us also. So two goals, two penalties, that is.