F.A. Cup 3rd Round Replay
 

Season 2006-2007

NEWCASTLE UNITED

2 v 2

BIRMINGHAM CITY

  James Milner 56
 		   McSheffrey 5
Solano 45 og
N'Gotty 59
Larsson 83
Campbell 89		  
     
  Date: Saturday 17th January 2007
  Venue: St James' Park
  Kick Off: 8pm (GMT)
  Australian Live TV: ESPN (Delayed)
  Attendance: 26,099
  Referee: P Walton (Northamptonshire)
  Read the match preview  
   

Newcastle: Given, Solano, Taylor, Ramage, Huntington, Milner, Dyer, Butt, Pattison (O'Brien 57), Sibierski (Carroll 80), Martins

Subs Not Used: Harper, Edgar, LuaLua
  Booked: Taylor Sent Off: Taylor (58)
   

Birmingham: Maik Taylor, N'Gotty, Martin Taylor, Upson, Sadler, McSheffrey (Kilkenny 88), Larsson (Danns 86), Muamba (Nafti 82), Johnson, Campbell, Jerome

Subs Not Used: Doyle, Gray
  Booked: None
   
     
  Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder said:  
 
”I apologise to the fans, I think apologies are due after such a lack of performance from everybody. I certainly had no indication there was going to be a performance like that - this was the same 11 players who beat Tottenham on Sunday. We never got going all night and in the end we have been badly punished. We never recovered from going a goal down, I expected a much bigger response than there was - there was no response whatsoever. You could argue that there was tiredness from Sunday's game but I am not here to make excuses. It was just a rank bad performance and a humiliating defeat at home. Somehow we have to put it behind us, hopefully in the manner that Liverpool did after they were beaten 6-3 at home by Arsenal and came out the next game and beat Watford. So we have to pick ourselves up. We have to be men about it, not boys. We have to stand up to be counted not scurry away and hide and I am sure we will come out fighting and put on a performance on Saturday that our fans deserve."
 
     
  Match Report:  
  We’ve all seen it and we all know how gut wrenching it was to watch. A range of emotions from annoyance, anger, blame and embarrassment went through our minds during this 90 minute horror show.

It’s very easy with hindsight but perhaps we should have seen this coming. 11 goals conceded in the 5 games prior, granted 4 of the away from home and no clean sheet since November. We all know (including Roeder) the short comings of this squad but Roeder has been left with no choice put to play the youngsters and whilst we’ve had a run of positive results, we’ve tended to paper over the cracks. Which to be fair is only natural. The main thing is the youngsters have done a fine job overall and will be better players next season from this experience. Having said all that, this was still a freak result which we must put behind us or we’ll slip into the abyss.

All credit to Glenn Roeder, I think his comments above sum it all up perfectly and I can’t really add too much more to them, so I’m going to leave it at that.
   
 

AUSSIE MAGS