So Newcastle made the short journey to the nearby shanty town called Sunderland on Sunday in anticipation of the return leg of the first game that saw Newcastle rip apart their local rivals and humiliate both fans and players alike. Let's also not forget Steve Bruce, who apparently had a song waiting to be played if, and a big if, Sunderland were to beat us.
Steve Bruce didn't get that song played and he was lucky he got the draw - a last minute deflection that beat Harper and the mackem that deflected it. He knew nothing of the ball coming to him and did not in any way, shape or form use his body to get on the end of it. It fell to him kindly and bounced off him kindly and took the shine off our performance and season. Oh, how good would it have been to silence those wannabe top dogs in the North East? Even when we were in a league below, we were the bigger, better club, hands down.
This draw therefore took a little of the shine off what could have been a great season. By that I mean if we had kept the man who got us back into the Premiership and also led us to beat the mackems resoundingly. If Chris was still our manager maybe we would have beat the mackenms again. In fact, I am sure we would have. However, Pardew could not get the Derby win although Newcastle took them apart again and really should have scored more than one. Ameobi had a great chance early on and he does loves scoring against the underdogs we call mackems. He sits at level pegging with the greatest Geordie of all time, Jackie Milburn, for the most derby goals. If he had gotten one in on Sunday, he would have gone on to be the highest scorer against Sunderland in the famous Black n White shirt. Instead, the scoring was again left to the funky chicken man (does anyone know why he does this? Please leave a comment). Yes, Nolan back heeled a Shola header into the back of the mackem's net and took his tally to 4 against them. Long may that continue.
A point against our local rivals is not good enough though especially when they sit 5 points above us, although we have a game in hand away at Birmingham. The gap could have been two points with us going into our next fixture with an eye on them and a bloody good chance of knocking them down a peg.
The display was fantastic by all our players but again, Joey Barton was brilliant. He had the crowd on his back again which perhaps does spur him on week in, week out. Barton not only had the boos but he received a few licks, just like in any derby. He didn't complain though but picked himself up and got on with it and put in a match winning performance. Steve Bruce had a dig at him for going down too often; perhaps he should have a go at his players instead for their lack of football. If they had not been picking Barton out for rough treatment, maybe we would have gone on to win. Still, roughed up or not, Joey thrives in adversity and I am sure he will come back to slap Brucey in the chops for his ridiculous comments.
Finally, a point to make about the underdogs and their fans who understandably get carried away. They have been living Newcastle's shadow for their entire existence and when we went down they must have thought it was their time. Things didn't pan out the way they thought though, eh. We went down, got rid of our crap, came straight back up and dissolved any thoughts and hopes the red and white of Sunderland may have of being the top team in the North East. It was all too apparent when they scored the equaliser. They went crazy. It was in the last minute but it was only for a draw but after the humiliating 5-1 drubbing given out by the bigger and better rivals, you would have thought their celebration of a very lucky and late equaliser after being totally dominated at their ground for 90 minutes, would be more subdued. They showed their true colours then and thought a lucky goal at the end to get one point from six and an aggregate of 6-2 to Tyneside was all fine. Well, I think they should crawl back under the stone they came from and next time they open their mouth about North East football, they should stop and think very, very, carefully. That is if they are capable of this as we all know what they are like in the ghetto.
Picture source http://www.foxsports.com
No comments:
Post a Comment