Rob Lee's European Masterclass - Antwerp vs Newcastle United

Royal Antwerp 0 Newcastle United 5 (13^th September 1994 – UEFA Cup 1^st Round)

Newcastle's return to European competition after many years in the domestic wilderness couldn't have been more emphatic.  The game had kicked off with plenty of energy and after just one minute Newcastle took a quick throw-in on the left and set Ruel Fox away into the Antwerp half.  He knocked a ball square to Beardsley who in turn rolled it into the path of the encroaching Barry Venison.  Beresford then took up the running down the left and with Scott Sellars ahead of him, took the Antwerp defence by surprise and crossed for Rob Lee who had made a run just inside the area and headed it across goal into the far corner.  

Pavel Srnicek then did well to keep the Belgians out at the other end with a finger-tip save from the Antwerp number nine, Severeyns.  Normal service was resumed however after nine minutes when Rob Lee collected the ball in midfield and sprayed it wide right to Ruel Fox.  Lee never stopped running and by the time Fox had returned the ball into the six-yard box, Lee was there to nod it past the goalkeeper.  In his eagerness to get into the area, Lee almost headed team-mate Andy Cole into the net too.  

Back came Antwerp again with a corner from the right which Australian international George Kulcsar headed towards goal.  A combination of Marc Hottiger’s right foot and the post prevented it going in to start some kind of comeback.  Things quietened down until six minutes from the end of the first half when Beardsley set Fox away down the right and his cross found Cole in the box via a defenders head.  He controlled it and looked to shoot but noticed Scott Sellars standing all alone three yards to his right so he knocked it sideways and Sellars did the rest, stroking it into the bottom corner for 3-0.  

There was still time in the first half for Peter Beardsley to do that thing where it looks like he’s dislocated his right leg and then suddenly dances past a defender.  He left a defender clutching at the grass with his teeth and scampered into the Antwerp penalty area.  His fierce shot cleared the corner of post and bar by inches.

Any hopes of an Antwerp recovery were squashed five minutes after the restart.  The trademark of the fourth goal was the willingness of Lee and Beardsley to run at the opposition.  Whenever either had the ball, their only ambition was to get the attack moving forwards quickly and incisively.  Antwerp didn’t have an answer to Beardsley’s wise sideways pass to Lee; his direct running which, although thwarted by a fullback, ricocheted to Marc Hottiger and his cross was dispatched with skill into the corner of the net via Lee’s head.  Rob Lee’s hat-trick of headers made it 4-0 (his eighth goal in six games) and matched the average number of goals per game Newcastle had scored thus far that season.  They’d put five past Southampton, four past Chelsea and Coventry (Leicester and West Ham both picked the ball out of their net three times each).  

Srnicek rescued Newcastle a couple of times before the fifth goal went in, stopping a low drive from Severeyns and then plucking a pile driver out of the top corner from Godfroid.  Steve Watson’s seventy eighth minute goal was a short insight into what he was all about.  He picked up on a rebound on the edge of the area, took on and beat the first defender, rode the next tackle by knocking the ball through the defender’s legs and baffled the third defender into running the wrong way.  That left him clear on goal with just the ‘keeper to beat.  Instead of knocking the ball either side, he took on the ‘keeper too, dancing away to the right and sliding the ball into the net from an angle, narrowly beating a defender on the line.  

Newcastle then went on to win the second leg 5-2 and set up a second round tie against Athletic Bilbao.  

Read more of Newcaste United's greatest (and worst) games in the book 'Newcastle United's greatest ever games' available to buy here

Newcastle United 4 Manchester United 3 (15th September 2001)

It was seventh versus second when the unbeaten Manchester United rocked up in Toon.  Imagine before kick-off hearing the Red Devil’s team sheet being read out over the tannoy...

Beckham, Keane, Giggs, Cole, van Nistelrooy, Scholes

...and then hearing names like Barthez (likely to do something weird), the 36 year old Laurent Blanc whose pace had completely evaporated, Wes Brown (see his Sunderland career for reference), Ronny Johnsen (see his Newcastle career for reference).

No, you have it. I insist.

In the summer Sir Bob had recruited Bellamy and Robert which turned the team into one which could realistically challenge the top six having not even finished in the top ten for the last five years since Dalglish took over from Kevin Keegan.  There had been a steady start, avoiding defeat at Stamford Bridge in the season opener thanks to a Clarence Acuña equaliser which cancelled out a Boudewijn Zenden opener.  An even Tyne-Wear derby followed the 4-4 epic against Troyes in the Intertoto cup, Bellamy saving Newcastle from a 1-0 defeat against Sunderland with an equaliser before half-time.  Alan Shearer returned from injury in the next game away to Middlesbrough and almost took the net off its hinges with his 76^th minute strike which made it 4-1 to the Geordies (See below) and the season was well underway.

Newcastle had wonderful balance in their team that day with Solano on one wing, Robert on the other, Rob Lee and Clarence Acuña in the middle with Shearer and Bellamy up front.  52,056 packed into the ground to watch one of the greatest games St. James’ had seen in its history and it started perfectly with a goal after just five minutes.  Laurent Blanc learned quickly that when Shearer has the ball with his back to goal, you don’t try and take it off him otherwise, a free kick will ensue.  Shearer had the ball with his back to goal and… Blanc brought him down for the free kick.  Solano and Robert stood over the ball with Solano taking the steps backwards before Robert took two steps and curled the ball into the top right corner leaving Barthez clutching at thin air.  

What happens next?

It wasn’t long before Sir Alex Ferguson, clad in a woolen trench coat, was up off the bench celebrating like a Geography teacher who wasn’t sure which team he should be supporting.  Phil Neville found himself central, twenty yards from the Newcastle box and oddly floated an angled ball out to the left.  It didn’t find its intended target but Andy Cole got up in the area to nod it down for strike partner van Nistelrooy who controlled the pass perfectly, turned his marker and stroked it into the bottom corner. 1-1, 29 minutes gone.

Bellamy was then fouled in the area but the referee turned his back and the boos rang out around the ground for a good five minutes, time enough for Newcastle to mount another attack which led to Robert firing just over from the edge of the area.  Just after the half-hour, an interception on the edge of the Manchester United area bounced out towards Rob Lee who was loitering in midfield.  His first touch took him around Verón, his second and third touches took him into the gap between Verón and the back four.  Finding himself on the edge of the ‘D’, Lee thought, ‘why not?’ and toe poked the ball goalwards.  It rolled towards goal where Barthez was crouched; it hit his knee, bounced up and ended up in the net.  The comedy Frenchman had struck again.  Lee was unperturbed as he’d just scored his first Newcastle goal for a year and a half.  His last goal had come in the FA Cup Semi-final against Chelsea in April 2000.  It had also been around three years since he last scored in the Premier League.

That went in? Seriously?

2-1 at half-time and all looked rosy for once against the mighty Red Devils.

Six minutes after the restart, a corner from the right was cleared to Laurent Robert.  He punted the ball forward towards goal but it hit a Manchester United defender and landed at the startled Nikos Dabizas’ feet.  He took one touch and lashed his foot at the ball with more venom than he’d ever put into a tackle whilst in Black and White.  Barthez didn’t even see it and was soon picking the ball out of the net having gone 3-1 down.  

I'm rather chuffed with that!

The fans were in dreamland and quite rightly expected a victory given the balance of play.  However, you never write the Mancunians off and back they came when on 62 minutes, a cross from the right hand side found Ryan Giggs completely unmarked on the edge of the area.  He swept the ball past Shay Given without much effort to reduce the deficit.  Whenever a Newcastle two-goal lead is cut to just one, the inevitable always seems to happen.  A Newcastle clearance found Juan Sebastián Verón on the edge of the area and he volleyed the ball past Given to level the scores.  Twenty six minutes remained and even the most optimistic Geordie had written this off as a 5-3 defeat.  However, with just seven minutes left on the clock, Craig Bellamy picked up the ball and took it on unchallenged into the Manchester half of the field.  He played a perfect ball through to Solano but his shot was powder puff at best and Barthez managed to get it clear.  Cue the big man; Shearer thundered in and directed the ball towards the far corner only for Wes Brown to stick out a leg and deflect an already goal-bound shot into the net to claim an OG and deprive Shearer of another strike in pursuit of Jackie Milburn’s record.

Same old Shearer

There was a little bit of drama at the end of the game when Alan Shearer cheekily stopped the opposition taking a quick throw-in to slow the game down with just one minute left on the clock.  Keane then threw the ball off Shearer’s head only for the Geordie talisman to have a few words with Keane and cause the Irishman’s face to kind of fold in on itself with rage.  He swung a fist at Shearer who just stood calmly, smirking slightly as several Manchester United players held Keane back and probably helped prevent a lengthy prison sentence.  Keane tried several times to grab at the Newcastle captain but Shearer just stood looking sternly at him as the referee brandished the red card and ordered the tantrum-having Keane from the field.  A good day all round then!

Would you like to come round to mine for tea and scones old chap?

Read more of Newcastle United's greatest (and worst) ever games in the book 'Newcastle United's greatest ever games' here.