Anybody gannin? Dougal, Clarky?

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Answers

I'm thinking of it. I can't get into town to buy a ticket but. Is it possible to pay at the gate?

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

It has been possible to pay on the gate for the last 2 or 3 games.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Brill!
Dabs is making his comeback so says the Journal. Also Cordone & LuaLua up front. Most importantly however - Hamilton may well return in midfield, what a treat.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

May come, but possibly not depending on a couple of committments. Will call you if I do decide to come.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

I'd be surprised if they'd allow pay-on-the-gate for ManU. No mention of it on icNewcastle. Best to ring them in advance.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

They're claiming it's ticket only tonight. I have one and intend to be there unless puking wife and baby insist I stay home with a mop and bucket......yeurch.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Does that mean we are to receive a famed 'Softie Reserve Report' tomorrow?

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Excellent Softie - see you there!

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Sorry Steph - had thought about going, but I don't have ticket, so word that you can't pay on the gate in our usual half-@rsed way of administering things, means the decision is now made for me.
So, its the smoggies v them for me - with a nice Chianti and few fava beans. Must see the Doc about these headaches!

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Softie.......are they both puking? (:oO

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

YBS seems to be on the road to recovery, but Mrs S dragged herself out of her sickbed to come downstairs and inform me that she was feeling even worse before barfing copiously on the floor. Dagnabit. Can't stand puke. That was almost divorce material. Shudder. No doubt tonight's football will cheer me up no end...:-)

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Oh dear. Hope Nic's feeling better soon.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Breaking News

Steph called from KP. Tickets available on the gate.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Sorry to find this funny really.

I wouldn't have put a dog out in weather like this. It's been peeing down for hours now. The bus driver got a right ticking off, when he eventually arrived.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

I arrived at Kingston Park to find that tickets were on sale after all. Typical! Phoned Screacher to ask him to post a msg on the bbs, but probably too late for folk wanting to go.

You could tell it was an Important Game as MUTV had five cameras there. Probably more than MOTD! Manure had also brought a strong team including Raimond van der Gouw, Ronnies Johnsen and Wallwork, Quinton Fortune and Luke Chadwick who really is the ugliest player I have ever seen! We lined up as:

1. John Karelse
2. David Beharall
3. Andy Griffin
4. Nikos Dabizas
5. Steve Caldwell
6. Christian Bassedas
7. Diego Gavilan
8. Stuart Green
9. Lomana LuaLua
10. Pablo Bonvin
11. Stephen Glass

The players were taking this one seriously as they were having a proper warm up with various stretching exercises rather than just kicking a ball around. The Tannoy informed us there wouldn’t be any scran because of the foot and mouth. The real reason of course was that MUTV’s cameras were using so much power there wasn’t enough left for the burger vans.

The game started with Steve Caldwell in fine voice using some fine old Anglo Saxon language to tell players what to do. After 5 minutes LuaLua sent a shot just over the bar. A few minutes later he drew VDH out of his box but couldn’t finish. Bassedas was booked for bringing down Chadwick – the first booking of the night, tho’ the ManU players should have had 3 or 4 by then. They must include continual fouling and whingeing at the ref as part of their everyday training. Steve Caldwell went close twice within a few minutes and Karelse made a good save from Chadwick. After 20 minutes Bonvin scored from close range. We all waited for the Tannoy to confirm the scorer but it was silent! At least the scoreboard was working this week! 1-0 to Newcastle.

LuaLua was doing some lovely stuff and managed to fall over between two defenders and still keep the ball between his feet. YBR was shaking his head and laughing. We won a free kick about 30 yards out. Caldwell took it beautifully – straight into the back of the net! This really boosted our confidence and we were playing some lovely passing football. LuaLua went close again and we went in at half-time a deserved 2 goals up.

The stewards wouldn’t let anybody up the steps into the bar so I nipped out the gate and in the front door! Halfway up the stairs I saw Peter Beardsley coming down with his bairn. Nobody in the loos this week, tho’ Carl Cort and Olivier Bernard were in the stands and some of the juniors were in the bar playing pool.

Back out for the second half and there had obviously been complaints that Chadwick was frightening the bairns as he had been subbed. We finally saw a ManU player get booked – Wallwork for pulling LuaLua’s shirt as he was racing through. We weren’t playing as well as the first half and let them back into the game when we somehow contrived to put the ball in our own net! :-( No idea of the guilty party as the Tannoy still wasn’t working. The game became edgy and niggly as a couple more ManU players were booked. A wild clearance into the stand crashed into the window just behind Bobby causing him to duck and laugh, pointing at the player on the pitch. Griffin went off and Disco Des Hamilton came on – he wasn’t even on the team sheet! Both sides had chances and both keepers had saves to make but we hung on for victory.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Woohoo! There cracks are there. I tell you, I can see them. Can you paper over them LR? I doubt it. This is the future of both pur teams. You stuffed us when we were down, but now we have gelled, you can't crack it. Woohoo!

Oh, BTW - thanks for a great match report Steph. If only you'd phoned an hour earlier I could have come up and witnessed it all.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Great report, Steph!! The crack about Chadwick scaring the bairns has me ROTFL. Poor kid.

Sounds like Caldwell(of the Stevie variety) should get a start Saturday or Monday.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Great report Steph, I've added a couple of photo's, added a line or two and used it on the DT.....Cheers.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2001

Nice one lads and a great report Steph.

Looks like Lua-Lua continues to frustrate whilst not really delivering, one day it'll snap with him and he'll be amongst the goals. I'd almost be happier with the back four that played last night as opposed to the normal one!

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Teamtalk are saying Bonvin scored with a 20 yard overhead kick!! Did he do that and if so, surely we should be playing this lad in the first team soon. He's delivered the goods, by all accounts, in the reserves all season so why not? We could do with freshening things up with a player who would try hard.

Also how did Bassedas play in the middle?

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Bassedas was anonymous to poor. Didn't do anything apart from get booked. It's a shame as he's a really nice guy and I would like him to do well but can't see it.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Different match? I'll go with Steph's opinion as NUFC.com probably had their heads up their arses!

Star performers for Newcastle were Stevie Caldwell, Cristian Bassedas and Stuart Green, the latter much more at home in a central midfield role and instrumental in much of our attacking play in the first half. Green almost blotted his copybook in the 88th minute however, when a hefty clearance whistled just past Bobby Robson's ear in the main stand.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Steph , your report was excellent , so obviously I stole it. Mind you you missed a bit at the end , so I changed it for you

Griffin went off and 'Wor Dessie' came on to a tumultuous welcome. The promise of seeing him in action was a major factor in many of the 1,500 fans turning up along with scouts from all over Europe who had come to see him utilising his sublime skills. They weren't disappointed , the final 10 minutes were a pleasure to behold. It's just a shame that our other local Hero, "Super Marce" was nowhere to be seen. Bobby Robson obviously must be keeping him fresh for the weekend. The game ended 2 - 1. It was a good result against decent opposition and Robson will be very happy that Dabizas played for the full game without any reaction to his recent injury

ntlstolenreports.com

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001