I suspect the improvement was more to do with finally getting some mobility in central m/f rather than anything Zog did, because Geremi was strictly pedestrian, leaving Guthrie hopelessly outnumbered and requiring Owen to drop very deep to help out.

Guthrie looked as though he might be struggling with the aftermath of flu in the 1st half, but he battled on actually had a good 2nd half. Duff tried hard but struggled to make an impact on the game until he floated over the superb cross that Carroll headed back across the goal and inside the far post – a good cross and a very good header.

Gutierrez had his best game for some time having been restored to his more natural left wing. His early success against ‘Breaks Yer Legs’ Neil, caused WHU to double up on him for the rest of the game.

When switched back to the right after HT, Jonas was nowhere near as effective, and thankfully he was switched back the left for the last 20 mins or so when we piled on the pressure for the winner. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to finish off a terrific run deep into the penalty area in the final minutes when he felt the need to switch the ball back to his left foot rather than hitting it with the right, and was crowded out. An good, hard-working performance from him nevertheless.

We generally did ok defensively, and Given didn’t really have a lot to do. However, we were undone a few times by Bellamy dropping deep and finding time and space. This is precisely how Gerrard caused mayhem against us recently, and clearly Coloccini is not getting guidance on how he should deal with a deep lying opponent.

Running from deep, Bellamy was denied several times by going too early, and getting caught offside. However, I actually said to my son that unless someone started picking him up sooner or later he would get through. He did.

Bassong had another very decent game, and looks more assured with every game. Enrique was the usual mixture of the good and the bloody awful. This lad has everything needed to be a top FB, but he makes far too many short-passing errors that repeatedly put us under pressure.

Owen had another tidy game, and worked tirelessly, but for me needed to drop too deep too often to support midfield, often leaving Carroll isolated.

I thought Carroll had a smashing game on his full debut. He actually surprised me by how well he played. He gave the two WHU CBs a helluva battle, and they never really dominated him. He won a lot of balls in the air, worked hard to close down opponents, and his distribution and lay offs were pretty good for a debutant. He took his goal superbly, could have had another, and had what looked like a decent shout for a penalty when he was pushed over in the PA.

Nevertheless, it was a good fightback after going behind to a goal from Cole who appeared to be 5yds offside from a free kick. I’m looking forward to seeing that one again. I’m also looking forward to seeing the goal, own goal actually, that we appeared to have scored in the 2nd half, because no one in the ground had any idea why it was disallowed, although the players didn’t seem to protest too much.

That brings me to the Ref, Mr Wiley, who I thought was hopeless. Early in the game, Michael Owen was absolutely clattered by Matt Upson, who made no attempt whatsoever the play the ball. Mr Wiley barely spoke to the player. 3-4 minutes later, Guthrie was at full stretch in a genuine attempt to win the ball, when his opponent went over his outstretched leg. The yellow card was out in a flash. Consistency?

We never established control in midfield, and had to work our gonads off to keep a foothold in the game. Credit Spurs midfield for that. I was actually quite impressed by Spurs today, and at least they tried to win the bliddy game.

I thought we gave the Spurs wide men rather too much space, although Habib Beye still managed to keep Bentley under reasonable control. Enrique had a helluva battle with Lennon, and despite losing out a few times, he stuck to the task and prevented Lennon from causing us too many genuine problems. Unfortunately, his distribution was rather inconsistent.

Butt and Guthrie worked tremendously hard in the middle without ever being able to dominate. Following on from his excellent 2nd half at Pompey, I thought Guthrie was terrific today. Jonas struggled to impose himself on the game, but as usual never stopped grafting.

Our MOTM was possibly N’Zogbia, who scored the 1st goal after a fantastic long ball from Given (surely his first ever ‘assist’?) and who’s direct wing play caused Spuds a lot of problems. He was our main threat today, and looked almost best to his best.

We did quite well defensively, limiting Spurs to a few half chances. I’m not entirely certain what happened on the Spurs goal. The ball seemed to rebound off Shola and back into the path of two Spurs attackers standing 10-15 yds in offside positions – however, with the ball coming off our player they could not be deemed offside, despite the howls from the crowd.

Coloccini and Bassong did well again together, with young Bassong once again impressing.

Owen put in another good shift. We tried several times to pick him out with early balls, and only just failed to get him in on several occasions. He blazed his best chance over the bar with about 5 mins to go, and I suspected that was that.

However, Viduka who had a few nice touches despite struggling to get around the pitch, brilliantly back-heeled the ball into Duff’s path to enable him to walk it into the net in the 89th minute. Having conceded so many late goals at home this season that have cost us valuable points, nicking this one was bliddy joyous.

We had some really tired legs towards the end, most noticeably Beye and Jonas, and as in the Stoke game, the opposition seemed to finish rather stronger. I really don’t know whether this is a fitness issue, or whether it was simply down to us having to work so hard to get on top in the game.

Another really vital and hard-earned victory, especially important coming at home, and one that will hopefully lift a little of the pressure. Once again, no one let us down, and there were some encouraging performances, particularly from the younger players – Bassong, Guthrie and N’Zogbia.

Reading started brightly, and we really struggled to get on top, principally because we couldn’t a grip on midfield. This was where, for me, the team showed real bottle, fighting their individual battles, and and battling for each other – refusing to allow Reading to get a firm foothold in the game, until genuine class could come to the fore.

We scored against the run of play with a typical Oba Martins goal – which must have been a dagger to Reading’s heart – and we never looked back.

A 2nd goal just before half-time, well created by Beye, and superbly put away by Owen – although he looked as though he may have been marginally offside to me – effectively ended the game as a contest, and we got well on top in the 2nd, although to be fair Reading never lay down.

Essentially a good team performance, with players playing for each other, but some good individual performances. I wouldn’t really like to single out anyone in particular because no one put in less than a good shift.

David Edgar filled in for the injured Steven Taylor, and started nervously making a few errors. However, supported by Beye and Faye, he played his way into the game, had a good 2nd half, and overall his peformance was very satisfactory.

The relief around SJP this afternoon was apparent, and everyone went home happy at a decent performance, and in the knowledge that Premier League footy has been secured. Let’s hope this is the last time we have to endure this kind of torture.

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

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.