Newcastle United 1 Portsmouth 0 (25th April 1992)

When Kevin Keegan returned to Newcastle United as manager in 1992, his first game in charge, a win over Bristol City, moved United up a place to second bottom. Keegan’s second game in charge was away to in-form Blackburn Rovers managed by Keegan’s successor at Liverpool and Newcastle, Kenny Dalglish. Though Newcastle played well, a virtuoso performance by striker David Speedie cancelled out David Kelly’s opener with a hat-trick. A disappointing draw with Barnsley at home followed, David Currie equalising Kelly’s second-half goal with just four minutes to go. Thousands made the trip to Stoke to see Steve Watson rattle in a twenty-yarder to grab another three points off Port Vale and lift his side out of the bottom three before a dour defeat at home to Brighton left Newcastle in the mire once more. A trip to Cambridge United followed, a tough trip considering the U’s were challenging for automatic promotion. First half goals from Peacock and Kelly kick started a good run of form which included a 3-1 home demolition of Swindon Town, a decent 1-1 away to Grimsby and a cheeky 1-0 at home against Sunderland. Things were looking decidedly rosier with Newcastle sitting 17th, five places above the drop.

Then the unthinkable happened; more so the unwantable. United were demolished 6-2 away to Wolves, then lost two close games to Tranmere at home and Ipswich away, both by three goals to two. A dreadful 1-0 defeat away to Milwall followed with future Magpie Malcolm Allen grabbing the goal and a truly self-destructive performance away to Arthur Cox’s Derby County followed. United lost 4-1 and lost three players to red cards. Kevin Brock was dismissed for punching the ball off the line early in the first half and then Steve Watson completely fluffed an easy clearance to allow Paul Kitson to roll home for 2-0. The plight Newcastle found themselves in was apparent on Alan Thompson’s face when that goal went in. He followed the ball into the net helplessly, grabbing the back of the net, tears in his eyes. Then, Marco Gabbiadini mesmerised Kevin Scott on the edge of the area (which let’s be honest, wasn’t difficult), the centre half took him down and saw a second yellow. In the second half, Peacock, Sheedy and Kelly combined to pull one back but Ramage restored the two goal advantage and when Liam O’Brien was dispossessed whilst attempting to take on the Derby backline, he turned and kicked out at Tommy Johnson; he didn’t make contact but it was enough for the referee to show a third red card of the day and when the inevitable fourth goal came, Newcastle were 3rd bottom with two games left. Portsmouth (who were 9th) at home and Leicester (who were 4th) away. 

 

In the days when the ban from a red card didn’t start immediately, Liam O’Brien, Kevin Scott and Kevin Brock started the game against Portsmouth. Franz Carr was recalled and Keegan still preferred Gavin Peacock and David Kelly up front to Mick Quinn who settled for a place on the bench. 25,989 packed into St. James’ Park for the most important game in a long time and some would argue, the most important game ever considering the consequences of losing and being relegated to the third tier. Newcastle started brightly and Brock was unlucky with an early free kick which whistled past the post. Another dead ball situation arose when Alan Knight in the Portsmouth goal took too many steps with the ball in his hand. Brock stepped up again but his effort was pushed away by the ‘keeper. Then Kevin Sheedy crossed from the right onto Kelly’s head but Knight had come out and punched the ball straight to Brock’s feet. Brock swung at the ball and sent it sailing just over the crossbar. Despite dominating the game so far, Newcastle went in at halftime 0-0. 

Portsmouth rarely threatened and there was a feeling around the ground that it was going to be one of those days where everything goes right apart from putting the ball in the net. Enter two Newcastle United Legends; Kevin Keegan for deciding the only way out of this mess was to try and force a goal and Mick Quinn for coming off the bench and being an integral part in the second division survival of this great football club. With five minutes left on the watch, 'keeper Tommy Wright bowled the ball out to full-back Ray Ranson who scampered up to the half-way line before being challenged by a Portsmouth player. He launched the ball forward onto David Kelly’s head and in turn to Mick Quinn standing just behind him inside the ‘D’. The ball was slightly behind Quinn so he turned and stretched out a leg to hook the ball into the box and more importantly, into the path of the onrushing David Kelly. Kelly, twelve yards out, thumped a right foot shot towards goal. Alan Knight’s hand was millimetres away from it but the pace of the ball was too much and it ended up in the bottom left corner. 

Forget cup finals, forget winning the league, forget winning the lottery; the shivers up and down every Newcastle fan’s spine when that roar went up was priceless. For those who were there, that moment will never leave them and in the scheme of things, it turned out to be the goal that rescued Newcastle United from oblivion and became the spring board for the return to the top flight. As far as statues go, there should be one outside the ground to commemorate David Kelly, Mick Quinn and Ray Ranson for their pivotal role in launching Newcastle United back into the stratosphere (relatively speaking of course).