Season 2006-2007

WATFORD

2 v 2 (AET)
4-5 on pens

NEWCASTLE UNITED

Schoolboy errors (and I’m not talking about Bramble)

It wasn’t the greatest start to what was going to be an eventful night, I made my way across London with plenty of time to spare, getting to the ground about 1 hour before the game, great I thought, time for a few cheeky pints. Schoolboy error number 1, I passed 2 pubs which completely packed out, so I thought, I know, I’ll just have a couple in the ground, and yip, you guessed it, no alcohol being served.!! So I settled for a chicken balti pie. Schoolboy error number 2. Just as took my first bite, it was only then that I realised I have forgotten the golden rule concerning football pies, yes, the internal temperature is approximately 350c. So there I was with a mouthful of burning larva and not even having the comfort of a pint to try cool it down.

I went into the stand to watch the players warm up and watched as Krul got stretchered off and thought, can this night get any worse? But as we all now know we got off to a great start with Sibierski scoring from an Emre free kick within the first few minutes. We continued to control the rest of the first half and like the majority of other games this season when we have dominated the first half we should have had this game wrapped up by half time. But the curse of our half time team talk strikes again. I’m not entirely sure what happens at half time but whatever it needs to change. My conspiracy theories are that either Pieman is supplying then with Greggs Sausage and Bean bake or they are all having a puff on one of Newckie’s funny fags.

The second half started and you could tell that Watford were up for it more than ours boys and the inevitable equaliser came. Our overall team’s ability to defend set pieces could have cost us the game today (and potentially certain people a lot more).

Extra time came without any substitutions and when we did make our first sub on 100 min there was more than a little bit of confusion. The forth official held up is board for Babs to come off for Solano and a bit enthusiasm rippled through the away crowd, thinking that Roeder was really going for it and making one of his very few tactical changes. However it was only when Babs got to the touchline that you realised something wasn’t right. Glenn, Terry and Clarkie were flapping about on the touchline waving bit of paper at each other, which to the delight of the Watford crowd started up a ‘You don’t know what your doing’ chant, with a few sniggers within the away end. The substitution ended up being postponed for a few minutes whilst they sorted themselves out with eventually Rossi (who did have a particularly poor game) making way for Solano. 8 minutes later and we were behind through another set piece. 2 minutes latter and Roeder made his second substitution which baffled a lot of the away support. Our last remaining striker on the pitch was replaced by another midfield! Luckily for Roeder things worked out, but I think it was more down to luck as apposed to a generously tactical decision with Parker wrapping up a solid performance with great surging effort with 6 minutes to go.

Penalties were at the Newcastle end which made it that bit more special. The relief on all of our players at the end was plain to see. But at the end of the day we again failed to beat ‘inferior’ opposition within 120 minutes.

It was difficult to criticise any our players, except for maybe Rossi who unusually looked like he wasn’t up for the fight. Overall the defence played well with Taylor standing out, Carr was lucky on one occasion when he again misjudged a bouncing ball and we were lucky not to get punished. The midfield was solid, although a little bit crowded towards the end when we have 6 midfielders on the pitch! Sibierski had a good game and was a constant threat in the first half with his maturity causing problems in the Watford defence even when he didn’t have the ball.

As for the fans, it was a great effort for the 3500 that made the journey, with an obvious swell in numbers from southern based Newcastle fans (or as Row S likes to call me – Cockney Mags)

Even through the second half ‘collapse’ and the questionable substitutions Roeder and Newcastle got full backing and support from the away end even when we went 2-1 down.

Just to round the night off, due to the extra time I missed the last direct train back into London, so had a nice 2 hour tube journey back, and finally getting back home at about 1.45am, so much for a local game……

AUSSIE MAGS