Ended evens

Match announcer (MA): Here's todays line up for the Mighty Magpies
Toon Army (TA): ROAR
MA: Number 2, Steven Carr
TA: RAAAAAaaaaa!
MA: Number 5, Emre
TA: RAAAAAaaaaa!
MA: Number 9, Obafemi Martins
TA: RAAAAAaaaaa!
MA: Number 12, in goal, Steve Harper
TA: RAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaa!
MA: Number 14, Charles N'Zogbia
TA: RAAAAAaaaaa!
MA Number 16, James Milner
TA: RAAAAAaaaaa!
MA: Number 17, and captain, Scott Parker
TA: RAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaa!
MA: Number 19, Titus Bramble
TA: <silence>
MA: Number 23, Shola Ameobi
TA: Did he say Bramble?!?!?!?
MA: And number 26, Peter Ramage
TA: Y' know I think he did.

It was an entertaining first half.  With 15 mins gone Emre lashed a freekick in from the left side of the visitors defence, it was hard to tell if Shovel was off side, but he played to the whistle and bang in an unchallenged goal.  There was a bit of a pause before the celebration, no Everton players seemed to complain or stick their hands up for an offside, then the TA went nuts. As per usual. That was the last thing Shovel did before he limped off injured 5 mins later, replaced by Sibierski. Shortly after Bramble, who hadn't actually played that badly till then, got booked for catching Johnson with a sliding tackle (he was nowhere near the ball). The Toon pressurised some more, Martins having a couple of chances and Milner having a dig.  Then, just before the end of the first 45, Cahill was left in loads of space and pounced on a ball Everton had threatened with all half.  The half ended 1's each.

The second half was more of the same: Martins trying too hard and Johnson being well contained. Bramble was now making hard work of it, some simple passes where turned into a test of everyone else's nerves.  One poor bloke in the top tier must have found it too much and got stretchered away. Steve Car decided he no longer had to chase the ball back, instead arguing with Milner would be far more useful. To top his afternoon off Bramble went straight through the back of Osman, and the ref gave him his second yellow.  There was 30 seconds of the Toon Army having a rant, then it was one of them “howld the bus, he's going off!!” and then people started cheering. Roeder started getting Steve Taylor ready to come on when Everton also found themselves down to 10 men, when Hibbert was given his second yellow for a foul on Sibierski.  The game, which was already canny open, turned to a nail biting end to end battle for the last 20 mins. Both teams could have nicked it but a draw seemed canny a fair result.

The Toon

Harper – Not quiet up to Given's standards, was rooted to the spot at times, but had a canny game none the less.
Ramage – Yes I know I've said I divint rate him, but this time he had a good game. Played left defence till Bramble got sent off then moved into a more central position.
Bramble – Sh*t. (Ed. must be a technical term!)
Moore – Again, no messing and kept things simple.
Carr – Wasn't to bad first half. Second half his passing went to pot and he just could be arsed at times.
Zogs – Not quite up to his usual high standards but always a threat.  Moved to left back when Bramble went home early.
Emre – Ran his legs off.  A proper midfield engine.
Parker – Bit quieter than Emre, but did the job.
Milner – Caused Everton all sorts of problems on the right.  Some great crosses nad a couple of shots.
Shovel – Scored then limped off.
Martins – Got into some good positions. Excellent passer of the ball.  Cannot head the ball and he's trying to hard to score.  He'll get a boat load one day, just not today.

Subs:
Sibierski – Had a good solid game, except for the lack of a goal was better than Shovel.  He might have got more from the ref if didn't over exaggerate when he fell got fouled.
Rossi – Over rated, did nowt.

The oppo 
Played a good part in an entertaining match.

The oppo fans
Nearly sold their allocation.  Some good banter between the fans. We sand “you stole my stereo”, They sang “we shagged your sister”.  They sang “We're going to win the league”, we sang “You're drunk and we know you are”

The ref
RS_The ConFUsed_GoAT thought he was sh*t.  I thought he kept the game flowing.

By Rogue Pieman