Newcastle 1 – Fulham 2

On a sunny afternoon on Tyneside Newcastle threw away the advantage to a poor Fulham side who are historically bad travelers.

The day had started well, the stadium, splendid in it’s usual black and white was filled with expectation for the home debut of Newcastle’s 10 million new boy Oba Martins and the likelihood of seeing the highly rated Rossi, on loan from Man Utd. Martins is a footballer in a sprinters frame, short and fast, light on his feet with a good left feet but he was always looking for a touch to set himself before carrying the ball meaning he was caught in possetion too often. As with all imports, he will take time to settle in to his new surroundings and his teammates did little to help him out today.

The first half was poor, Fulham had one free kick from 30 yds, whilst Newcastle were restricted to shots from distance as the rare pieces of interplay around the box resulted in a poor final ball. The main battle of the match was shaping up to be Jamie Bullard and Scotty Parker, two players at the peak of their games battling for control of the midfield. A nasty looking injury to Bullard on the half our left Parker free to control the game. At half time Parker was the only Newcastle player to have turned up, with flashes from Duff and N’Zogbia that never quite materialized into anything of note.

HT 0-0

The second half started much as the first had finished, Newcastle looking to play long balls up to the inept Ameobi who never looked interested, the crowd were becoming frustrated that the midfield were being bypassed. Given was struggling to find a black and white shirt when he looked long; and the short passes to his defenders were being returned to him rather than on to Parker or Emre.

Then Newcastle started to play. There was a good ball out to the right from duff, Emre 30 yds out, by the touch line switched the ball onto his left before curling a peach of a cross onto the head of the fast arriving Parker. Reminiscent of Lee or Speed at the height of their powers and no more than Parker deserved having been head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch today.

After the goal Newcastle reverted to type, wasteful long balls finding no one in particular, Martins was replaced by Rossi who looked interested but didn’t get a kick, Parker picked up a knock and was replaced with 10 minutes to go with Butt as a precaution.

With 8 mins to go, a slip from Ramage, playing at left back for the injured Babayaro, let Routledge cross to the far post where the unmarked McBride leveled the scored. The ball traveling across the box at head height without being cleared.

5 minutes later, a Routladge corner to the far post saw McBride without a Black and White shirt in sight; he headed against the bar only for the rebound to hit the incoming Bocanegra finishing in the net. The mugging complete the stadium began to empty.
Full time was greeted with the predicable Boos from a crowd that came expecting so much more. Glenn will have to work on playing through a very talented midfield before springing the forwards as Martins or Rossi will not get a kick if we play like this for the rest of the season and we can kiss any cup hopes goodbye. It’s also time to put Ramage out of his misery and consider him as a centre back who can cover on the right, a left back he will never be. Even if Bernard is not match fit he would have provided balance today that was sadly missing, square pegs and round holes springs to mind.

A busy few weeks ahead with UEFA cup and rearranged league games to fit in so the boys will have every opportunity to make amends.