Shola saves the day! Newcastle 1-1 Sunderland
Well I've finally calmed down enough to get writing a match report. I don't blame the derby itself, I blame the hugely biased commentary from ESPN, but then again I suppose that was always going to happen with Chris Waddle behind the Mic!
I'm just glad there was two "pelanties" in the match as it showed up his general level of intelligence.
Aside from that annoyance, the 146th Tyne-Wear derby was played out with the usual display of passion and commitment - a term you can only loosely apply to classless Sunderland who ended the match with ten men and made it down the tunnel with nine men courtesy of Lee Cattermole attacking referee Mike Dean. On top of that their fans rioted on the Metro on the way home and smeared their own faeces over the walls of the toilets in the away end. Whatever floats your boat I guess. Anything to make them feel at home...
The thought of someone handling their own crap is actually disgusting, but it honestly doesn't surprise me as far as these vermin are concerned.
On the match itself, taking my rose-tinted specs off for a second, I think a draw is probably a fair result. Sunderland dominated the first half while Newcastle dominated the second, even before Stephane Sessegnon raised his arms and connected with Cheik Tiote leaving Dean with no option other than sending off the Benin international. After that there was only one team in as Newcastle penned Sunderland back into their own "pelanty" area, but it took until injury time for a breakthrough to be found. We'll save that until later though.
Lee Cattermole set the tone for the match by scything down Cheik Tiote and receiving a yellow card in the first 40 seconds of the match. It could have been a red and I wonder if it puts any credence behind the rumour that he was shouting "I'm going to get you" at Cheik Tiote in the tunnel prior to kick-off?
The match then became a very "committed" affair with both sides putting some tasty challenges in. However from there it was Sunderland who got a foothold in the game and applied the pressure while Newcastle tried to continue the battle of tackles. Perhaps it was a case of us being too "committed" and not concentrating on the football?
Sunderland took the the lead thanks to a "pelanty" from Nicklas Bendtner awarded after Mike Williamson tugged Michael Turner's shirt in the "pelanty" area. Personally I have no complaints about the award, my only complaint is that those kind of decisions aren't awarded often enough, which might put a stop to the continuous shirt pulling we see in pretty much every Premier League game. Still, Mike Dean has form for this kind of decision as showed when we played Stoke at the Britannia earlier on in the season.
Sunderland continued to press and harass Newcastle with the home side unable to get any kind of foothold in the game. Whenever the ball was cleared it just came back at us, it always fell to a red and white shirt. However with ten minutes of the first-half left the home side started playing a bit of football and showed that they could get at Sunderland by playing their own game. Fabricio Coloccini forced a smart save from Simon Mignolet while Demba Ba struck the crossbar from a header.
Half-time: Newcastle 0-1 Sunderland
I don't know what was said at half-time or what was done by Alan Pardew, but it worked. What I do know is that goalkeeping coach Andy Woodman was sent to the stand after an altercation in the tunnel caused by a member of the Sunderland backroom staff pinning Yohan Cabaye to the wall.
Newcastle started off the second half brilliantly and penned Sunderland in to their own half. A succession of corners proved fruitless however and the filth managed to finally get the ball clear. Hatem Ben Arfa - on at half-time for Davide Santon - was causing no end of problems for Sunderland and he provided us with some real cutting edge and productivity in attack. In fact Alan Pardew said after the game that it was the best performance he's seen from Ben Arfa and that he had to find a way of getting him in the team.
Despite that though Newcastle nearly found themselves two goals down after being caught out on the break. Only a smart double save from Tim Krul prevented Seb Larsson and James McClean from extending the lead for the away side.
However Sunderland were soon to be eliminated as an attacking force when Stephane Sessgenon flung an arm at Cheik Tiote. Granted Tiote went down like he'd been shot, but rules are rules and they say that if you raise your hands you will get sent off. That means a three game ban for Sessegnon after his violent conduct.
Terrorised by Ben Arfa, Sunderland were on the back foot. I struggle to recall the ball even being in our own half from then on but Sunderland defended stoutly and put bodies on the line. It looked like it might pay off for them aswell!
Or would it? After several failed appeals for a penalty Mike Dean finally awarded one for the home side when Frazier Campbell rather stupidly slid into Shola Ameobi. Demba Ba stepped up to take the spot kick only to see it saved by Mignolet - the Senegal international later admitted that he changed his mind in the run up. Personally I'd have left it to Shola.
That penalty miss kind of deflated things and you could sense that Newcastle were starting to run out of steam. However they just about kept going and got their reward in injury time, and it was a name that Sunderland fans must be sick of seeing who stole the Sho! Yohan Cabaye crossed from the left and Mike Williamson flicked the ball towards Shola Ameobi at the back post who duly applied the finish and half-volleyed past Mignolet to send St James' Park into raptures.
For the Cabaye bashers, it will go down as an assist to Mike Williamson, which is the problem when you look purely at assists.
For the statto's out there, and this is a mad one, it was Shola's 7th goal against the Mackems - a figure only beaten by Wor Jackie Milburn!
Huge sighs of relief all round then, but amazingly the home side could have won it at the death and, had the loose ball not fallen to the feet of Mike Williamson, we might have done. Unfortunately he was just unable to control the ball at the vital moment and Sunderland hacked the ball behind for a corner.
Full-time: Newcastle 1-1 Sunderland
Further drama ensued after the final whistle when Mike Dean dent of Lee Cattermole for foul and abusive language. I'd suggest that he shouldn't even have been on the pitch long enough to be able to gob off at the ref but hey ho.
A draw on the face of it is a disappointing result, but you have to be pleased with salvaging a point in jury time to avoid defeat against your fiercest rivals. That's us unbeaten against them since we returned to the Premier League - a poor record for a club who profess to be "light years" ahead of us.
Howay the lads! Thanks for the four points!
Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon, Ryan Taylor, Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Jonas Gutierrez, Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse
Subs: Rob Elliot, James Perch, Danny Guthrie, Gabriel Obertan, Hatem Ben Arfa, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi
Sunderland: Simon Mignolet, Phil Bardlsey, John O’shea, Michael Turner, Kieran Richardson, Seb Larsson, Lee Cattermole, Craig Gardner, James McLean, Stephane Sessegnon, Nicklas Bendtner
Subs: Craig Gordon, Wayne Bridge, Matt Kilgallon, Jack Colback, David Meyler, David Vaughan, Frazier Campbell
Attendance: 52,388
