Magpies Zone welcoming Citizen Vain, my new Toon friend from the internet and his first article for my blog. I meet this lad from one of social networking site and I was very glad to have meet a fellow Toon Army from blogging.

This is the beauty of making a Blog about something that you really love and not just following someone else success in blogging about making money. My new mate from Vainzine is writting the first ever guest post in my blog with his great post match review. Thanks for your time to write for the Magpies Zone mate, Howay the Lads!!!

Below is his review of our last game at White Hart Lane.

What turned out to be a must win game for King Kev’s boys was, at least on Paper, never going to be an easy away day at North East London’s second biggest club.

The home support was weak from the kick off and it wasn’t long before Newcastle started to take control of the game from midfield.

The Toon started with a 4-3-3 formation, as did the opposition but Spurs central midfield players Huddlestone, Zakora and Malbranque did not look up for the fight from the start, a stark contrast to Butt, Barton and Geremi who seemed to know that this was an all or nothing fixture.

They weren’t the only ones. Habib Beye had his early strike in the 6th minute come back off the underside of the bar, before Barton missed a glorious chance to put the Toon 1-0 up after 15 minutes.

Inevitable the deadlock was broken in the 26th Minute, by Spurs. Steed Malbranque provided a sublime cross in to the box that was met by the head of the grateful Darren Bent. This was by no means an easy chance and he had to direct the ball into the corner to beat the unfortunate Steve Harper. Had the ball been anywhere else Harper would have probably saved it.

The travelling faithful’s heads did not drop and it was refreshing to see the players respond positively to the early set back. After a jittery five minutes proceeding Bent’s opener, when had Bent or Berbatov been more will to chase seemingly lost causes Spurs might have added to their advantage.

Newcastle were not being dominated though and had plenty of possession, but were unable to gain a breakthrough in the final third until on the stroke of half time Nicky Butt steered the ball in the bottom corner and past the helpless Robinson.

This was a pivotal moment in the game to strike the equalising goal. Referee Steve Bennet blew for half time straight from the re-start and as the players jogged from the pitch it was obvious that their confidence was brimming and that they could smell a victory.

Too many times in the past the supporters have been left dissapointed, but today was never going to end in dispair.

Spurs were woeful in the second half, bar a goal line clearnce from a header by Bent and it was the geordies who were making all of the noise both on and off the pitch. Barton should have scored again afetr the re-start but saw his shot scrape the outside of the post and go out for a goal kick.

The tension in the away stand was starting to build. The fans were starting to become restless and the belief was starting to wane. Too many fans had seen too many past opportunities to take victory squandered by the often hapless players, including Barton, and it looked as though if Spurs got one clear chance they would take it and kill the game off.

It wasn’t to be their day though and when Geremi stepped forward to take a free kick after 50 minutes few supporters would have though that they would be in rapturous delight moments later when his sweetly struck strike hit the back of the net.

This was the pivotal moment in the game. There was no going back after the Toon gained the lead and it wasn’t long before Owen curled a third past Robinson from 12 yards out.

Newcastle killed the match off in the 83rd minute when Oba Martins got the goal he had been wanting so desperatley all game with a nice run, beating the defender before slotting past Robinson.

This must go down as Newcastle’s greatest victory of the season. It should secure their position in the Premier league, and if the do stay up and play the pass and move football - remeniscnet of the first Keegan Era - the did today, then we can all look forward with optimism - provided some much need flair players and a winger or two make their way to St James’ Park in the transfer window. Well done lads!

Citizen Vain

Despite the enormous comfort of an early goal, which in the context of the game was massive, a tense and nervous 90 mins made for agonising watching, but ultimately proved satisfying. The players were nervous, the crowd anxious, and the lack of the 2nd goal made things ever more nail-biting.

We played some canny football a times, but us usual made things difficult by endlessly giving the ball way. We created a good few chances, but poor finishing and a couple of good saves by Keller kept the score at 1-0 for what seemed an eternity.

Fulham had a full share of possession, and at times it was like the bliddy Alamo in front of our goal. However, I thought we defended superbly today, and it’s a long time since we could say that. Taylor had a his best game for a long time, and Faye improved substantially on his dodgy showing at Brum.

Viduka scored a good early goal, creating it for himself out of nothing - a goal that was pivotal in the game. After that, his performance was disappointing - frequently failing to hold up the ball, and bring in his colleagues, which is of course his designated role.

In contrast, I thought Michael Owen was superb - for me, his best game for the Toon since his hat trick at West Ham a long time ago. His free role in this 4-3-3 formation gets him more involved in the game, and he seems to be enjoying it a lot more. He missed a sitter with his head in the 1st half, but put away a Geremi free kick with his head to kill off the game late in the 2nd.

Martins worked hard, and as ever was a combination of the good, the bad, and the ugly. However, he tried to help out Enrique down the left, and buzzed around to reasonable effect. The crowd roundly booed his substitution by N’Zogbia again. Once again this was clearly tactical but, at the time he was subbed, Martins was looking lively while Viduka was treading water.

A midfield three of Butt, Geremi and Barton is seriously pedestrian, and they struggled to get control of this game - with the deep-lying Bullard spraying the ball around to good effect. Having said that all three worked extremely hard, and kept going right to the end. Barton had probably his best game for the Toon, but still gave the ball away too often.

Despite Fulham having a lot of possession, I felt we were good value for the 3 points, becuase despite their possession they actually created very little, whereas we carved out 4 or 5 very good chances.

A simply MASSIVE 3 points, that should set us up to move away from the bottom three. However, the job isn’t done yet.

The veritable ‘game of two halves’. We were utter sh*te in the 1st half; much better in a second-half, we actually dominated.

The reason for the improvement wasn’t entirely obvious - at least to Screach & me in the pub. We certainly defended better in the 2nd half - but that wasn’t too difficult, given how dreadful we had been in the 1st. We also created a lot more going forward, and but for a good reaction save by Taylor to deny Owen - who perhaps should have scored - we could have taken all three points.

The only things we noticed different in the 2nd half were that Geremi stayed on the right more, and Butt restricted his forward runs to finally gave the back four a little more protection. There is also the possibility that there may have been a conscious switch to 4-3-3 at half time, with Martins playing closer to Viduka and Owen, with a midfield of Geremi - Butt - Barton.

Whatever subtle changes were made they worked, although there was also a noticeable increase in the physical effort in the 2nd half.

Many of our 1st half problems stemmed from Faye being beaten time and again by McFadden, ultimately culminating in an embarrassing goal when the wee Scot far too easily turned his physically-superior marker in the penalty area, and slotted the ball past Harper.

With Steven Taylor looking a nervous wreck, Barton giving the ball away in midfield with gay abandon, and Faye having a torrid time with McFadden, our defensive work was shocking in the 1st half; much, much better in the 2nd.

Not the ideal result, but a better point for us than Brum in my opinion. It breaks a really bad run, and gives us some genuine positives to take into the weekend, where another 3 points would make a massive difference to our overall position.

Disappointed? YES! Feeling Hurt? DEFINETELY! Have anything to hope for from our current team squad? Maybe YES, maybe NOT.

Honestly, I didn’t expecting us to win the game today and was very sure that we will get beaten, but I do hope we lose the game in dignity, with pride and give them something to fight for. But the truth is we give another easy win just like we did to them in our home game.

Newcastle is the team to go for if any other Premier League team want to have points these days. Hate to say it but that’s the reality we have to face and I didn’t blame Keegan for the straight losts.

These players we had did not show enough courage and self-belief even when we have won any game this whole season. Jermaine Pennant’s goal on 41 minutes was totally a fluke, the Spanish player we have is not in the same quality as the other Spaniards in Liverpool team.

Enrique should have put the ball out for a corner kick instead of trying to pass it and the ball get straight into Pennant’s foot before going into our own net where Harper is as helpless to handle. Ok, that was one of our bad luck as Keegan said during his post-match interview, but Fernando Torres goal on 44 minutes was totally a joke.

Things are even get worst for us to see James Milner limped from the action in first half after kicked the foot of Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder Lucas. Keegan said we will have to wait and see before assessing Milner’s injury and hopefully that he didn’t suffered any worst than a minor bruising.

And it’s clear to see that King Kev was far from happy with today’s display. We are worst today than what we have been in Blackburn’s match.

“It was disappointing and nowhere near good enough,” KK said “We have gone behind to an unfortunate goal when Enrique has tried to clear. But the second goal was a poor one to concede and going in 2-0 at half-time is different.”

Now, we are still just three points above the drop zone but Reading who win 2-0 at home to useless Manchester City are now move above us with goal different.

If we still to have any confident remains of staying in the top flight, it’s depend on our next fixture against Birmingham which is totally crucial one.

“We’ve got easier games to come but the attitude and commitment will have to be spot on,” Keegan said “We don’t play until a week Monday and we’ve got time to pick everyone up.”

“The only result what matters is your own and I think that we’ve got more than enough in our dressing room to get the necessary points.”

Newcastle Team Scores:
Harper: ?
Beye: Looks bewildered.
Enrique: Looks lost.
Taylor: Slowly breaking apart.
Faye: Head goes down.
Butt: Fucking dreadful.
Smith: Shocking.
Milner: Knackered.
Duff: Disgraceful.
N’Zogbia: Already at Spurs.
Owen: Pitiful.
Martins: A bit of hope.

Best performance for ages, particularly going forward. We created at least half a dozen good chances, scored none, and fell to the almost inevitable sucker punch. A real sickener.

For the record Smith and Barton were selected again, although at least we had a fit keeper today. Smith had a decent game, without ever having a sniff at goal - for a centre forward this is not that great. Barton was largely hopeless, but laid on two glorious chances for Owen, who missed from both.

We dominated the game, created good chances, and should have won comfortably. Having said that we still creaked defensively, and Harper had to make 2 or 3 very good saves to keep us in it. Harper was a huge improvement on Given.

For all those who have been arguing Michael Owen will put them away if someone creates the chances for him - including myself - he really should have had a hat trick today.

Some good performances and hopeful signs, and no lack of effort or committment - but critically, nil points. We also lasted the 90 mins better than of late.

A big talking point was Zog’s omission from the starting line-up. He came on as a 2nd half sub, so clearly wasn’t injured. I could be wrong, but suspect he’s off in the summer - along with Viduka, who wasn’t even in the 16.

And here are what KK said after the game, quoting from SkySports:

“Incredible [the result], that’s football - it is a cruel game at times.”

“I thought it was a magnificent performance. First half if we come in 2-0 or 3-0 up I don’t think anyone would have questioned it. Second half we had four or five good chances, but if you don’t stick them away you can get punished. We got caught with a sucker punch. Blackburn stole the three points today but that’s football.”

“This week training has been superb and they had taken that into the game today, and I feel really sorry for them in there because they definitely did not deserve this.”

“They have to pick themselves up and we have got to help pick them up, and we have got to go to Anfield that is our next match.”

“We have got to face reality - we have a lot of big games to come but if players play like that today I don’t think we will have any problems, we will win more than we lose that’s for sure. I thought we gave a really good account of ourselves, but at end of day we have got nothing for it.”

“We are a team that has not won in a while and confidence is low. That last-minute goal will not help, but we will pick them up and dust them down and take them to Anfield. Spirit is good, no doubt about that. They have done everything they can to win a football match, and as manager I certainly cannot ask for any more than that”.