Newcastle United - September 2009

Hello friends and welcome to another post of my Newcastle United story. After being quiet satisfied with my first month in charge it was time to crack on and get a winning streak going.

v Cardiff (a) Coca-Cola Championship

The first game of the month game away to Cardiif and a trip to the new Cardiff City Stadium I was a bit nervous before the game as I hadn't won away from home this season and needed to start today if I was going to get any chance of promotion.

The first half never seemed to get going and it never threated to get a goal. There was chances for both teams to open the scoring but neither team made any very threatening chances. It stayed at 0-0 until half time. The second half was when the game came to life. Unfortunately Cardiff took the lead in the 47th minute through Kelvin Etuhu (on loan from Man City) his curled shot beat Steve Harper from 10 yards out. Cardiff then took a 2-0 lead when a Ross McCormack free-kick flew into the top corner. That seemed to finally wake up our team and we pulled the score back to 2-1 through Andy Carroll. A long ball up the pitch by Danny Guthrie was flicked on by Andy Carroll and the ball looped over the keeper (it was somewhat of a wierd goal but I would easily take it). That goal changed the momentum of the game and in the 70th minute Newcastle equalised and Shola Ameobi was the player to thank. Shola piced up the ball from Kevin Nolan at the edge of the box and he skiped past two Cardiff challanges to place the ball carmly passed Marshell in the Cardiff goal. Much to my suprise we completed an amazing comeback in the 92nd minute once again Shola had his name on the scoresheet. Shola had made a brilliant run into the box and was found by substitute Joey Barton and for the second time placed the ball underneath the Cardiff keeper.

It was a brilliant comeback on a game when we where easily the second best team but this shows that my team have the strength and character to get out of this league.

v Blackpool (a) Coca-Cola Championship

A second game four days took us on the road again to Blackpool and to Boomfield Road. Much the Cardiff game a few days previous the first half was really spent in the centre circle with both teams fighting for possesion. Blackpool took first blood just befoe half time when Charlie Adam caught the Newcastle defense ball watching and he arrived in the box unmarked for an easy far post header. This galvansied the home support and they scored at a perfect time. I wanted to reshuffle the pack and come back with three points and on the 50th minute at was 1-1. Jonas scored probabally the goal of the season after picking up the ball on the half-way line he rode the challanges of three Blackpool players and rounded the keeper to score a fantastic goal. Shola Ameobi continued his goal scoring streak when he unleased a shot from just inside the Blackpool area and that made the game 2-1 to the visitors. Fr he second game running Andy Caroll name was on the scoresheet and this time a brilliantheader was the way in which he scored. After a decent start to the season Newastle are starting to get into gear and I will try and keep this run going for as long as possible.

v Plymouth (h) Coca-Cola Championship

My third game in a week kept us at home and a game against relegation threatened Plymouth. The game started at a frantic pace and that set the tone for the game. In the 25th minute Newcastle took the lead though Shola Ameobi after rounding the keeper and slotting the ball in the back of the net. It was then 2-0 ten minutes later and yet again the scorer was Ameobi. After a long ball up the pitch by Alan Smith, Shola was the first to react and was left 1 on 1 with the keeper to get his 5th goal of the season. Plymouth then pulled one goal back just before half time and Jamie Mackie was the scorer. The second half started like the first had finished and Plymouth were putting Newcastle under sustained pressure. But we then restored our two goal advantage when Jonas kept up his record of scoring in every home game this season. The game was complete in the 77th minute when Ryan Taylor's free-kick flew in to the top corner.

I was delighted with this performance and the team had really started to gel. Next game is the League Cup match against Liverpool.

v Liverpool (a) League Cup 3rd round

It was now time to focus on the cup games and a chance to play Premier League opposition against Liverpool. They were currently flying in the league and it will be a very competitive game. Unsprisingly it was the Premier League side who enventually took the lead in the 25th minute. After a short corner was taken the ball fell to Dirk Kuyt who smacked the ball into the top corner. Liverpool then took a 2-0 lead when a Steven Gerrard cross was volleyed in by Ryan Babel (it was a supreb goal abit like Marco Van Basten's). After a Liverpool corner was headed out by Coloccini the ball fell to Wayne Routledge and a lung bursting run took him to the Liverpool byline and he played a low cross into the path of Peter Lovenkrands and the socre was 2-1 (was this a lifeline). Liverpool then killed the game in the dying moments when Steven Gerrard produced his usualy low driven shot from the edge of the box to make it 3-1 and we were out of the cup.

Next game was a trip to Portman Road and to face a Ispwich side who are managed by former Sunderland boss Roy Keane.

v Ipswich (a) Coca-Cola Championship

After the dissapointing but upsurpiring exit in the League Cup it was type to get back to business in the league. Newcastle started brightly and we were ahead in the 8th minute. After some good build up play on the edge of the box and the ball fell to the feet of Fabrice Pancrate and he relished the chance to get his first goal for the black and whites in what also was his first start. Ispwich got the perfect reply just one minute later. From the kick-off the ball was played up to David Healy and he layed the ball off to Salomon Olembe and he unleashed a shot that was too hot for Harper to handle. Newcastle regained the lead in the 38th minute when a poor Wayne Routledge cross was headed away by an Ispwich head, the ball fell into the path of Alan Smith on the edge of the box he took one touch before drilling in a low shot just out of the reach of Richard Wright in the Ipswich goal. This was also Alan Smith first goal for Newcastle and also his first goal for almost 4 and a half years so you can imagine how pleased he was when that ball went in.

After a very enventful first half the game never really got going and neither side threatened to goal another goal so unsuprisingly the goal finished 2-1. We had an 100% record for this month in the league going into the last game. If I won surely it would take Newcastle to the top of the league and also get me my first manager of the month award.

v QPR (h) Coca-Cola Championship

The final game of the season saw us play QPR at home and I was looking for another three points in the bag. The first half seemed pretty boring with both sides giving the ball away rather cheaply and it was not the best game to watch. Some of my players seemed tired and not up to full pace then again looking at the fixtures we had just played 6 game in just over 2 weeks. The first half stayed at 0-0 and I began to worry that this was going to be the final outcome. So I made some changes, I brought on Peter Lovenkrands for Andy Carroll, hopefully Peter could inject some pace into the game and also brought on Danny Guthire as Nolan's fitness levels had dropped to under 70%. The game stayed goalless until the 84th minutes when after a succession of corners we were putting QPR under sustained pressure. A corner taken by substitute Danny Guthrie was hit to the front post and there was Shola Ameobi to head in what ended up being the winner.

That brought the end of the month and it also brought my own personal trophy in Manager of the Month for Semptember with an 100% record in the month. 

   







That month then took us to the top of the Championship table with a 4 point lead of Nottm Forest and we have them to play in October.

I have a quiet month to contend with in October the stand out game being that away match against 2nd placed Nottm Forest. I will be looking for at least 9 points from this month.

Thank again for reading will see you soon.