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).
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| 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 76th
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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