Newcaste United - November 2009

Hi everyone and I hope you are all fit and well. My Newcastle team had now moved into November and I was looking to increase that lead at the top of the Championship by as much as possible. The month began with an away trip to Sheffield United.

v Sheff Utd (a) Coca-Cola Championship

It was a cold Monday night and we arrived at Brammell Lane hoping for 3 points and I was looking for a good peformance. We seemed to start well like we did against Doncaster in the previous month and were ahead after only 3 minutes when a long ball up the field Peter Lovenkrands flicked the ball on for Shola Ameobi and a missed header from Chris Morgan let him in one-on-one with the keeper and we were ahead. It was soon 2-0 in the 6th minute when an unstoppable shot from Jonas flew into the top corner and I was delighted. We soon seemed to put the foot of the gas after that and regretably that let Sheffield Utd back in the game. They had a number of chances but strikers Ched Evans and Darius Henderson couldn't place in the ball in the back of the net. The second half begun we the game came beyond a Sheffield Utd comeback when Peter Lovenkrands made it 3. After being played through by Ameobi, Lovenkrands found himself with a glorious chance and he cooly placed the ball under the keepers body. I was ectatic about this performance as we had comfortabally beaten of the top divisions top sides. Next game was at home against Peterbrough.

v Peterbrough (h) Coca-Cola Championship

For the second game running we managed to score in the first five minutes of the game. This time it was Peter Lovenkrand's name that was writen on the scoresheet. A whipped free-kick from Wayne Routledge seeemed to evade everyone until the ball fell to Lovenkrands and he had one of the simplest goals to score in his whole career. We grabbed a second 9 minutes later when another goal from a set piece went in the back of the net. A Wayne Routledge cross was met by the head of Mike Williamson to get his second goal of the season. Newcastle were crusing at this stage and it was no suprise that we socred again on 35 minutes again Shola was on the scoresheet this was now his 7th goal in the last 8 starts. We again seemed comfortable for the rest of the half and never looked anywhere near conceding a goal and by the end it game finished 3-0. The next game for my Magpie's was away to Preston.

v Preston (a) Coca-Cola Championship

With 5 wins in succesion I was hoping to make it 6 at Deepdale when I played Preston. It was more of an even contest than the two previous games this month and we were made to fight for the ball. If I was going to win this match it would have to be a dogged performance and we would have to play aggressively. The first goal fell to Preston (the first goal I had conceded in three games). What made it worse was that the scorer was former Sunderland employee Ross Wallace. The goal was well deserved as the build up play was excellant and we never got near to winning the ball back. In the second half not much really happened apart from Muamba being sent off for a second yellow. Preston were playing at home they decided to put as many players behind the ball as possible. This may have been because they were playing top of the league but if was because they had not won in five and I guess that wanted to make sure of victory. They got there victory when the referee blew the whistle, it was my first loss since the start of the season against West Brom and it ended the 15 game unbeaten run. Hopefully I would get back on track when playing Swansea at home.

v Swansea (h) Coca-Cola Championship

I was hoping for a way back to the winning run that took me to the top of the table and whata better way of doing this that playing at home. Swansea started the game brightly and were more offensive than any other team had been this season. There tactic payed off when they scored the first goal of the game in the 25th minute when a reverse pass from Van der Gun played in Nathen Dyer and he played the ball under Steve Harper's body. It was soon 2-0 and I was not happy with the way the team was playing especially as this was infront of the Geordie faithful. The second came after a defensive error from Coloccini and that left Van der Gun with the simpiest of chances to doubl their advantage. We improved slightly in the second half as we started to play the ball around the pitch, kept possesion and had a few chances to score but as football goes sometimes Swansea made the game safe and it was three. This time a free-kick scored by Mark Gower the game was over and I had lost my econd game in a row and also lost my unbeaten home record. I need to improve if I was going to win the league.  

November Results

What seemed to be the start of another unbeaten month turned sour and I lost the last two game of the November. I was hoping for better next month

December Fixtures

A busier month than before with six league game to play. The most notable being the Tyne-Tees derby against Middlesbrough. I was hoping for 14 points this month anything more I will be really pleased with.

Thanks for reading

Next post in a few days as I have decided to do the rest of the season so that I finish the season quicker and I will be in the Prem sooner.

Warren