Good to Good to be Good to be a TOONER

Newcastle United made the trip to the capital amid a media circus of fresh allegations and reversed psychology from non other than Arsene Wenger. The point was to take Newcastle's eye off the ball and fall into the trap. The pre-match broon ales were flowing and the Toon were sitting comfortably in 9th with the weekend fixtures going our way. Anything more than a loss would see us climb above the Unwashed, Super Spurs and Bolton. During the build up to this early Sunday kick-off, I almost uttered the words, "If we wi... " but was given a quick "don't bother" look by a few Geordies so I shut up mid sentence and kept what I should have said to myself. The post game talk seemed to give the impression that success would be if we kept the number of goals down. If we could grab a late equaliser then great, that would do to take us up to 5th. All in all, there did not appear to be any high hopes in the media for Newcastle.

So we headed down toward Gilespie Road for the game with about 20 mins to go. When we took our seats, standing up obviously, the Geordies were in good spirits and the battle of the stands looked to be over before kick off; it is the Emirates afterall. The game kicked off with pressure from the home side and a free kick by Flabbyass that hit the wood work. Arsenal came close again but this time Timmy Krull made an astonishing save to tip the ball over from Nasri for a corner. Newcastle played an epic match and threw all we had at the ball to snuff out anything Arsenal could come up with. We even took the game to them and the after match stats tell the story of how we came to the Emirates and played Arsenal well and not of a performance where we would sit back and hope for a 0-0. Great performaces again from the likes of Tiote, Barton, Ameobi and Carroll but more to the point all the boys especially the defence played their role in this encounter.


I almost uttered the words, "If we wi... "

Arsenal did get a slice of cold revenge served up by local hero Andy Carroll - one that was promised from captain Nolan after the heavy defeat sustained at home to Arsenal only a few days earlier. With the game at 0-1 to Newcastle the ref blew his whistle for half time. The atmosphere in the ground was good and the second half kicked off to the sound of the Geordie Vuvuzela. We carried on the battle as in the first half but Arsenal were the team to come closest. Walcott, who scored 2 in the Carling Cup, picked the ball up in a packed 18 yard box and let go a shot that once again struck the cross bar. AFC 0-1 NUFC the score stood at and with the game coming to a close, Flabbyass was lucky to stay on the pitch with some awful challenges the like of De jong would be proud. Ameobi came off towards the end for his second standing ovation in a week. Young Nile Ranger came on and could have sealed the match when he decided on an overhead kick instead of squaring the ball to Kevin 'Funky Chicken' Nolan. 2 minutes later, Ranger chased a ball down the right and beat his man only to be professionally fouled by Koscielny. The Arsenal defender was rightly shown the red card and the home team played out the last few moments to the sound of boos and jeers from the home fans. Meanwhile the Geordies boys are jumping for joy in the away section as the lads come across the pitch to throw their shirts and applaud the support. Up to 4th in the Premiership and not far off Arsenal with Man City to play an hour or so later. A win from City would see us slide again but only down to 5th. The applause were all for Newcastle today as we put in a memorable shift with emphasis on team work.

Newcastl have Alardyce and his Rovers team at st Jamse' on wednesday one that must not be waisted its vital we get points from these games now that we seem to have put our dodgy home form behind us.

One more thing good on the Gooners for taking the defeat well, they all said after the game we deserved it, they were not happy about it but they gave us credit. I applaud them for that.
the highlight


picture sourced from http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/nov/07/arsenal-newcastle-united-premier-league