Match reports please

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Particularly interested to hear how Bernard & Robert combined tonight from anyone who saw - early days yet but

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001

Answers

I feel the need to report that the much-maligned Official Site carries the only match report yet published on the net - loaded at 10:20pm.

Well done - now sort out the bloody Ticket Office!!! I've heard Railtrack have offered to take it over. Anything would be an improvement.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001


Well, the first thing I have to say, having just returned from Barnsley via Philleas Fogg's crisp factory in Medomsley it that the only (slight exageration) in the stadium was next to me. Shame Clarky bottled it - lerds of others didn't and I guess if wor end had a capacity of 6000, there must have been 3,500-4000 of us there (well, maybe 3,499-3,999).

You could tell this was going to be one of those games, with Rob Lee trying to emulate his early match generosity against Liverpool with an equally appalling pass to put us under the cosh. Fortunately we survived, but the pressure kept comming from The Tykes.

Slowly but surely, we gained control, but many will be pleased to hear Barton was having another poor game - tho he wasn't alone. Robert was pretty anonymous. Big game player. Don't bother turning up Laurent for the next round. Stick to ManUre. Lee and Speed were mediocre in M/F and the best of the M/F bunch for me was Solano by a short Nob.

At the back, new garcon sur le bloc Sylvain Distin was awesome in the air (which you might expect for a 7 foot 3 player, unless they're called Carl Cort or Shola Ameobi) but on the ground, I felt he was left wanting too many times. Better opposition would have punished him, but at least he has presence. Lots of it. Alongside, Andy O'Brien had a canny game and was Toon's MoTM IMHO. Bernard was OK, but I've seen him play better - usually when he's been playing further forward as wide left M/F. Unfortunately, he kept falling down, which made the guy behind me comment that he looks like a smal version of Heskey. Well, he's black but apart from that, I couldn't see much similarity (I don't spend much time looking at a guy on his @rse).

Up front, Bellamy ran and ran and ran, but all too often lost control at the vital moment. Shearer was average, taking quite a bit of stick form one of three brick sh!thouses which made up 3/4 of the Barnsely defence. On more than one occasion, Bellamy was on the receiving end of a good old fashioned shoulder charge. Nowt wrong with that, except Bellamy's shoulder was charged by a sh!thouse's hip. Hardly a fair contest but credit where cresit is due, Robert (for once) picked up a long ball down the wing (from Bernard??), turned inside and found Bellamy unmarked in front of goal. But, unlike the first half when both he and Robert he had similar chances, this time he slid it past the keeper and into the net, much to wor end's relief.

On balance, we had more chances but only took the one. We could have had it sewn up at half ime had the 2 or 3 chances been taken, and it was down to 2 cracking saves from Steve Harper that we kept a clean sheet - which was quite surprising as in the kick-in, he looked uncertain, spilling many. Perhaps he was just trying to give the Barnsley players a false sense of security - or me a heart attack. Anyway, he slotted into the side with no problem at all and kept a clean sheet. Woohoo!

So, overall, not a great game nor a great Toon performance. But a cup win is a cup win - which is more than can be said for others. I guess YBR is a tad happier than Monsieur Oolalah. I probably missed lurds in this report - but I'm knacked and ready for the pit. Night night.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001


Forgot to say. The ref was cr@p. So mowt new there then.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001

Cheers Screach.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001

Aye ! That was a good summary. I thought Distin and O'Brien played well. Some of the ref and linesmans decisions were unbelievable except that it appears to be a normal thing this season.

It was great just being able to turn up and pay at the turnstiles, took me right back to my youth:-) Getting out of Barnsley was a nightmare though !!

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001



You obvioulsy parked in the wrong place Kats. I parked right by the roundabout under the dual carriageway on the town-centre-bound side and well on the way on the M1 by 22:20, back in Consett by 23:30 (er, sorry ociffer) and in Powburn by 00:25 (ahem!).

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001

There were some good highlights on Tyne Tees TV last night. It looked as if Robert made some good moves but Bellamy seem to miss too many chances.

I'm curious about Bernard , would he be a better bet than Elliot? He seems a lot move attack minded, and linked up fairy well with Robert, overlapping and making runs ahead of him.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001


For once, a punt out of defence got us a goal, and it was Bernard, Screach, but from the tv highlights, there still seemed to be too many aimed for Bellamy. I mean, how long is it going to take to sink in ?

John Beresford (how would he know ?) made Sol motm, but, again, the highlights showed very few corners clearing the first defender, one or two canny through balls, but.

And where the feck was the defence for the two most obvious chances they had that should have given Harper no hope ? Roll on Leeds in the next round.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001


Yeah - I thought it was Bernard. I agree, he's better going forward but he's not going to get the left m/f place unless Robert is injured/suspended (quite likely IMHO). But he did make a fantastic goal-line clearance so in that case his positional sense was spot on ;-)

I thought O'Brien was our best player, something which YBR commmented on in the Journal this morning (O'Brien that is, not Screach thinking so). As I (think I) said, Nobby was probably the best of the m/f 4, but still nowhere near his best. Thankfully we were only playing a below par 1st Div team otherwise we woul dbe out - but that's football. Probably play out of wor skins in the next round against Leeds/ManUre/@rse/Grimsby.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001


I pretty much agree with Screach although I'd have to say that while our defenders played well individually, they were still incredibly vulnerable as a set. Distin was OK, Bernard was very good, O'Brien had a great game and Warren was f....g dreadful in the first half and slightly better in the second. Steve Harper had a good game - playing at least as well, if not better, than Shay has played of late. Robert didn't do much, but like all "flair" players, produced the winning moment. Solano was better than of late. Lee was f......g dreadful except for one great move. Shearer worked hard but is miles off the pace. Bellamy was ace. I have to say, their centre halves looked more convincing than ours normally do, and they really gave us a game of it. Still, the result is all that matters in the Cup!

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001


You know the match reports and how the funniest thing is the difference in people's perceptions of players etc? Well, this really came home to me last night. I got home (thanks Screach) just in time for the end of the highlights programme and was stunned to see Bez picking Nobby out as MOTM for his vision, workrate blah blah blah. I mean, he had a better game than of late but that's only comparative (if you see what I mean).

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001

The Chronicle reckon Bellamy is worth his rate in gold. That means he's only worth Ł472,728.00: did he seem that bad last night? Should have signed Tomas Brolin obviously.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001

Yeah well we arrived quite late so parked right next to the ground ! Still I got back home before midnight....mind you I was only going back down to Loughborough

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001

From the highlights on TTTV, Solano was man of the match IMHO.

He picked out some great passes and did well coming inside when he did. He was certainly the best out of the midfield, but the defence were rarely called upon by the looks of it, so Solano would get MOTM.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001


Er, no Paul. The defence had plenty to do. As I've said, IMHO, AO'B 4 MOTM. I have to admit, I didn't wuite manage to get back in time for the TTTV highlights - they were up tp Leeds 2nd goal when I switched on :-( However, it's not unreasonable that a Toon-based TV company would show the creative bits rather than the backs-to-the-wall stuff.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001


My view was just from what I saw on ITV last night BTW

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001

No criticism Paul. You saw it exactly the same as Bez did - tho methinks he wasn't there either ;-) In all reality, when you're halfway up towards the back of the away end, you can't always see all the action. Sitting on the settee at home with a couple of beers usually gives you a better view.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001

Taken from "From The Terrace", an Barnsley Fanzine. Fair and well written I think. Interesting to get the other teams fans perspective on a game.

The biggest Oakwell crowd of the year, coincidentally, to watch us play our biggest opponents this year, and the Reds pull out their best performance of the year. Still, it’s a rubbish cup…

Well, paint me surprised. The Toon Army descend on the ‘Well en masse to watch their beloved Magpies, and –would you credit it? – so did Reds’ fans. In midweek? Anybody would think it was because we were playing a multi-million pound, star-name laden Premiership outfit, but that couldn’t be true, could it? Could it?

However, much as I’d like to get involved in a "and where have you lot been all season" debate, that’s for another time. Last night though, the extra numbers in the Reds’ section of the crowd and the whole-hearted support of arguably the most passionate and vociferous fans in the country merged to give the ‘Well its best atmosphere in ages. Well, merged for the first twenty minutes or so, and then it was back to ‘sporadic’ from the Reds’ and ‘relentless’ from the Geordies. As expected.

As to the game, the fans were taking it seriously, even if most pretend that this is a competition that doesn’t really matter, and given the line-ups, the managers also didn’t seem to realise that you’re not meant to bother about the Worthlessington Cup. Nigel Spackman drafted in the two new boys in midfield, which saw the surprising omission of Dean Gorre, who didn’t even make it on the bench. Lee Jones started on the left-hand side of midfield in place of the faltering Darren Barnard, and Lee Crooks was immediately called upon to take the right-back position in what now appears to be Spackman’s favoured 4-4-2 formation. So, the line-up started off with Marriott in goal, Crooks, Morgan, Parkin and Barker at the back, a midfield of Donovan, Sand, Lumbsdon and Jones, with Fallon and Dyer up-front.

The game kicked off, and even after only a few minutes, it was easy to see that the two new boys were going to slot in very well. Sand looked strong and determined, maybe lacked half-a-yard of pace, but did well in adjusting to what is obviously a much quicker game than the one he’s used to. Lumbsdon was simply superb - and even just after the one showing the fans are demanding that his deal is made permanent. Hard running, strong tackling, wonderful distribution and some superb work off the ball in tracking back Newcastle’s seemingly infinite number of speed merchants, he deservedly took the Barnsley Man of the Match award, and maybe was only bettered on the pitch by the Toon’s towering French centre-half Distin, who gave as an accomplished performance in the heart of the defence as I’ve seen in many-a-year.

The match itself was end-to-end. Newcastle relying on the nous of Shearer and the blistering speed of Bellamy up-front, ably supported by Robert and Solano on the wings, but it was Barnsley who nearly had the breakthrough after two minutes, Dyer latching on to a defence splitting through ball by Lee Jones. Unfortunately, Bruce snapped at the chance with the least favoured of his left feet, and even though the ball somehow managed to elude Harper and trundled ever closer to the net every passing minute, Bernard managed a spectacularly comfortable clearance. After he’d been to the shops. And had a nap. Bruce also had another chance a few minutes later after being fed through by Rory Fallon, but Bruce this time hit it with his other left-foot straight into the arms of the untroubled Steve Harper.

Now, I know Bruce has his fans, but here’s my opinion. He might run around a lot, can’t fault that, but his finishing is grade ‘A’ awful. He might score one blinder a season, and score a few tap-ins, but he misses more sitters than the rest of the forward line put together. “But he does a lot of running”, you might counter, and I say “so did Zola Budd, but I wouldn’t want her leading the attack!” Does Dyer score enough of his chances? No! Does his hustling and bustling of defenders win us the ball? No! Has he the skill to set-up many goals? No! Does he make those clever runs that lead to space being created for our other forwards? No! Does he win us many headers? No! Can he control a ball and bring other players into the game? No! Therefore, is there any point him being on the pitch? Feel free to answer that one yourselves…

That said, Rory Fallon was a little disappointing last night, but while he is deceptively quick he does lack that acceleration off the mark, which neither Distin or O’Brien at the heart of Newcastle’s defence do. He fought hard and had a few good touches, but he was effectively shepherded out of the game by a couple of top-notch defenders.

Top marks must also go to our defence. Morgan and Parkin did a great job on Shearer. An early attempt at gaining a penalty should have been met with a yellow card, as should Bellamy’s insistence on diving whenever anyone got within thirty yards of him! Both of these guys are blessed with talent, and Bellamy is probably the quickest gnome in Middle Earth, but both seemed more intent on winning fouls, getting players booked and feigning penalties than staying on their feet and displaying their scoring talents. In fact, given the chances he spurned – mostly down to a combination of woeful finishing and superb keeping – it’s no wonder Bellamy resorted to diving. At least three times he had a clear one on one with Marriott, and each time Marriott thwarted him. Robert and Solano each showed flashes of their undoubted brilliance, but both were virtually nullified by Barker (another superb performance by the Reds’ most consistent player) and the newly returned Lee Crooks.

The midfield battle between Mackem loanee (and didn’t that elicit a response from the Toon Army?) Chris Lumbsdon and the ageless Rob Lee were a wonderful exhibition of how the game should be played. Both battled hard, but fairly, and both showed some delightful touches and distributed the ball with ease all over the park. Lumbsdon won it for my money, but no doubt the Geordies would have viewed it differently.

While Barnsley had plenty of the ball, our goal-scoring opportunities were limited, Harper only truly being tested with the arrival of the very-sharp looking Kevin Gallen, who replaced Rory Fallon for the second half. One brilliant reaction save from an instinctive goal- scorers' volley from Gallen was Harper’s outstanding moment, and he made another good save low to his right minutes later after Gallen was again on target. (See Bruce, that's how you do it...) Kev looked great on his return from injury, and I’d much rather see him linked with Fallon or Sheron than Dyer for Saturday’s game against the Brum. Looks dangerous, and given support, should get a sackful if he remains free from injury.

Newcastle’s goal, when it came, came as no surprise. They had started to turn the screw, and minutes of pressure eventually paid off. The Reds’ passing had started to go astray, and a ball from Neil (who had replaced the tiring Sand) was intercepted by Bernard, who hit a splendid ball to Robert, who then teased the defence before laying off a ‘hit me’ ball to Bellamy. This time, Bellamy realised that no- one was near him so there was no point diving, and in his fourth attempt actually got the better of Marriott and slotted it past him into the net.

That led to more pressure from the Reds, an appearance from Barnard replacing Jones on the left, but Harper was rarely troubled. We tried, we really did, but in the end class showed, though the difference in class between the teams was nowhere near what one might have expected. While the Toon Army was delighted to progress through to the next round, Reds’ fans were equally as delighted in showing that we can live with sides of genuine quality, and on another day we could have edged the game. Let’s hope we can keep up that sort of form in the league, because if we can, we have absolutely nothing to worry about..

Special mention must go to referee CJ Foy, who was appalling even by the usual Oakwell standards. Whistle-happy, pedantic, unable to play good advantage, it is a credit to both teams that we had the exciting game we did, because Foy was no help at all! Professional refs? Who are they trying to kid?

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2001


Very interesting - thanks for that Mystery Man.
Unanimous decision on the Ref then?

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2001

"Bellamy is probably the quickest gnome in Middle Earth"

hehe priceless stuff ! glad to hear the lads were in fine voice despite what was being served upon the pitch

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2001


Interesting what they say about Dyer, missing loads of chances, but he runs and runs.

Could we be saying this about Bellamy in a few months? He has been great so far, but he does miss quite a few chances that others might put away with ease. Not a criticism of him - I'm dead chuffed with how well he's done - just a thought.

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2001


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