Their goal was the end result of some sloppy defending by Williamson and Colo, but otherwise they offered little in the way of a threat.

We upped our game in the 2nd half, but despite a lot of good possession just couldn’t find the target. A Williamson header hit the angle and went out and, Shola blazed high and wide when wide open on the edge of the PA and with plenty of time.

It was looking as though Blackburn would hold out when HBA took possession around 35yds out. His mazy run and thunderous strike was truly Maradona-esque. Fabulous goal. His overall performance was a bit in and out, and he looked more comfortable after going out wide when Obertan was mercifully taken off. He seemed to benefit from that bit extra time he got in the wide position.

Jonas had a good 2nd half, as his developing partnership with Santon caused Blackburn all kinds of problems, and the winning goal was well created by Shola and beautifully taken by the Spiderman.

Abeid did ok on his debut and certainly didn’t look overawed. He could prove to be another good ‘un.

Without playing well, Shola improved things up front simply by getting in and around the box. Best needs to recognise that he is now expected to be the main man, and he needs to concentrate on getting on the end of things rather than getting involved in the build-up. We dominated posssession yesterday without offering a consistent threat, and this has to be a real concern over the next few weeks.

Not a classic but at least we’re in the hat.

Last year we were beaten heavily with 4 goals, and it looks like the Potters fans are very confidence that the same result will repeated again last night, but they have witnessed the all brand new Newcastle Undefeated Football Club, as the final result was their worst Halloween ever at their own yard.

United visit the Britannia on a quest to conquer the third spot on the Premiership table from Chelsea who got thrashed last Saturday by Arsenal. Frankly I would be happy with a point there, as it will guarantee us the third spot.

United were playing without Tiote who has an injury problem and Pardew give a chance for Guthrie to take his position, and he’s more than adequately to handle his tasks in our central midfield.

Man of the match is (our future #9) Demba Ba who scores a hattrick. With his performance last night, Stoke manager Tony Pulis was wondering why he’s not one of their player in first place.

Ba took United to the lead after just 11 minutes through United’s swift direct attack. Tim Krul send the ball out and being flicked on by Leon Best to the position of Obertan who sprint the ball and leaving Marc Wilson trailing in before clipping a delightful cross to Ba, to score his first goal of the match.

United then soon become under a heavy pressure from the Potters, but we held them firmly with Coloccini and Steven Taylor commanding the area. And as much as they give us the tests, we simply responded once we had the chance to hitting them back on the counter.

Newcastle’s counter attack producing Ba’s second when Coloccini’s angling ball fell into the box for Upson to try to headed it out. The ball was only goes as far as Leon Best who return it low back into the six-yard box where Ba is waiting to finish it with a verocious strike.

The home side could only response with a goal from penalty when Peter ‘always diving in the six-yard box’ Crouch react to Ba’s soft touch. Jonathan Walter gave the Potters a false hope to save their game.

But, soon after Crouch tumbling down heavily like was being hit by a male elephant, United have another reward from the referee and in a similar situation as Huth nudged Best inside the box. Ba made no mistake, as he scores his third.

That’s it, the mission accomplished, third in premiership as the reward of the lads hard work and never-end fighting spirit so far this season. I must say that I have started to believe in Alan Pardew now, as we are walking in his wonderland.

Alan Pardew told Ba to drop deeper to assist, but as v Spurs last week he showed he is incapable of doing that effectively. At half time Pardew took off Best and replaced him with Hatem Ben Arfa in a further effort solve this problem.

While not entirely successful, this did improve matters as one of Wigan’s midfield three had to pick up Ben Arfa as he was playing deep, giving Cabaye & Tiote a little more time and space. He is still rather off the pace, and gave the ball away too often, but his presence was a threat that Wigan couldn’t ignore.

Despite getting more of a grip in midfield, we still weren’t creating clearcut chances and Wigan’s defenders were dominating Ba, now playing up front on his own. So, Shola was brought on for Ba.

Unfortunately, this Shola was ‘regular Shola’ rather than the ‘super-Shola’ that came on last week. Nevertheless, he was more of a physical threat than Ba had been.

Pardew’s final move was to mercifully replace Obertan with Marveaux. The former’s confidence visibly drained away today as he turned over possession time and time again, and he was starting to get stick from the crowd.

Marveaux showed some nice touches, linking well with Ben Arfa and Cabaye, and played the ball square for Cabaye to strike a gem from the edge of the area into the far top corner.

Not a great performance, but not a bad one either imho. Wigan deserve a lot of credit, and were certainly the better team in the 1st half. They worked hard to stop us playing if rather over-physically at times.

I thought Pardew’s changes were well thought out and each one brought about improvements. However, it seems to me we’ve reached the point where some reassessment is needed.

Two big strikers and only two in central midfield will not always work in the Premier League. Cabaye & Tiote are bearing too much of the workload in this formation and will eventually run out of steam (or get injured).

Krul made one excellent save early on, and was then largely unemployed. I don’t know what Alan Pardew said to Simpson at the break, but he had a barn-storming 2nd half. Top man for me once again was Colo, although Steven Taylor also did well.

This is the game that most of the Toon Army have something to fear of about the moral of team and the strength of our defense in particular. Many times I’ve read that our current position in the Premierships table was nothing but a luck, as they said, we haven’t meet the real test before today.

So, now I’m proudly say that we have a good team, with a very good determination and high spirited lads are willing to fight until the end and never surrender. We are capable of chasing the game in any condition, like today we are twice behind but we can responded very well to end the game 2-2 against this year “European” club opponent.

Before the match, I was feared of their pacey wingers and the skill of Van Der Vaart and Modric. I didn’t take credits to their striker, Adebayor is not the same person as he was couple of years ago when still with Arsenal.

Instead of the first goal was coming from his movement, I see it as our own fault who was failed to stop the ball that coming from the midfield. Steven Taylor also failed to anticipate the lose ball and gave enough space for Adebayor to run into our six yard box, and Taylor last try was bringing down Adebayor inside the penalty box.

In the second half we are starting to look for an equaliser, and it doesn’t have to wait longer than 3 minutes. In a nice United attack, the ball was coming to Gutierrez who runs for it and releasing a delightful cross infront of Brad Friedel goal who was passed through Spurs defenders into Ba’s foot who are free in the area to slot the ball and Friedel into the net.

Since that goal we are looking for more but through a counter attack we are once again failed to stop the ball from the midfield, and this time Jermaine Defoe who came in as substitute for Van Der Vaart, can take the adavance to fire in Spurs second.

Alan Pardew then make two substitutions to taking off Demba Ba and Best who surprisingly very quiet today and bringing on Hatem Ben Arfa and … Shola Ameobi. I’m trying to be honest here, to see Ameobi in I was thought that we will finally got beaten.

But, I was totally wrong, and I apologize to Ameobi who is coming in to rescue the point for United, with his superb goal in the 86 minutes. Just 9 minutes before that goal, Pardew also bringing in another player that I was desperately want to see him playing, Davide Santon to replace Danny Simpson.

Spurs have one other chance to get back into the lead but Krul succeeded to block another strike from Defoe. We also have a great opportunity to win this game through our skipper Coloccini who shot the ball wide in the dying minutes.

In general, I was pleased with this result and to see that we are still in good track. Bring in Wigan next week, until then thanks for coming to this site and Howay the Lads!

Newcastle United (4-4-2):
Tim Krul; Danny Simpson (Davide Santon 77), Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini (c), Ryan Taylor; Gabriel Obertan, Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez; Leon Best (Shola Ameobi 71), Demba Ba (Hatem Ben Arfa 71)

Subs not used: Rob Elliot, Dan Gosling, Sylvain Marveaux, Peter Lovenkrands

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2):
Brad Friedel; Kyle Walker, Younes Kaboul, Ledley King (c) (Sebastien Bassong 30), Benoit Assou-Ekotto; Gareth Bale, Jake Livermore, Scott Parker, Luka Modric; Rafael Van Der Vaart (Jermain Defoe 64); Emmanuel Abebayor (Roman Pavlyuchenko 89)

Subs not used: Carlo Cudicini, Danny Rose, Andros Townsend, Giovani Dos Santos

Referee: Lee Probert

Attendance: 46,420

We played some really terrific football in spells, but interspersed that with some real sloppy play, some unecessary over-elaboration in dangerous areas, and some woeful short passing. Blackburn themselves created precisely nothing, and any sniffs of chances for them came from our mistakes, usually in the areas in front of our back four.

The big error of course came when we were coasting at 2-0, and allowed Blackburn back into the game, albeit rather fleetingly. Ryan Taylor conceded possession cheaply in a dangerous area and a bad goal resulted.

Despite this annoying aberration, Blackburn were never really in this game, indeed they were fortunate to avoid a good tonking. Ba grabbed the goals, but I thought Best was terrific today. He bullied two big physical Blackburn’s center backs in Samba and Dann, and made some terrific runs down the channels that created time and space for Ba.

Best probably should have scored a couple himself, but snatched at two self-made opportunities lifting them both over the bar. Ba’s first goal was terrific, taking the sting out of very strongly hit pass-cum-centre, making space for himself and rifling the ball inside the far post. Excellent finishing.

In midfield, Cabaye and Tiote were very good. Cabaye is such an intelligent player, and Tiote is almost back to his best, and without picking up yellow cards too. Tiote was actually my Man Of The Match, despite Ba bagging a hat-trick. Jonas worked hard up and down, but as so often his delivery wasn’t always up to scratch.

Obertan continues to improve, although as with Jonas, his final ball was often disappointing. Technically he is a good player, he has pace and causes problems for defences when he cuts inside. He needs to be encouraged to take on his runs with the ball more often, and then deliver better crosses.

Coloccini and Taylor were rarely troubled, and the former was at his imperious best. The weakest area in the team is undoubtedly at FB. Against poor opposition today I thought both Raylor and Simpson were poor. Without Santon demonstrating full fitness, this has to be an area for Graham Carr to be focussing on in anticipation of the January window because the bigger clubs will undoubtedly pick at this weak spot in the team.