Newcastle United 2-1 Bolton Wanderers |
|
Date:
Sunday 27th February 2004
Kick Off: 1.00pm UK
Venue: St. James' Park
Att: 50,430
Ref: Dermot Gallagher
Comp: Premiership |
| Premiership
Match Report In Association With Toon
Ale |
|
By
Maddog
Titus Bramble in a sweeping move found himself with acres of space
on the right and squared up Alan Shearer perfectly outside the box
but the Captain could only manage a low shot to the right corner that
keeper Jaaskelainen managed to save well with the ball rolling to
Bramble who set up Kieron Dyer the second time round with a short
cross but he could only head into the grateful hands of the Bolton
keeper.
An impressive Steven Carr crossed the ball superbly from the right
straight on Dyer’s head, but Lee Bowyer took it on himself to climb
over Dyer and head in a goal past keeper Jaaskelainen that Shearer
would have been proud of.
However the expected equalizer came about six minutes later, when
Jay Jay Okocha started a flowing move which capitalized in old boy
Gary Speed heading the ball in the path of Stelios and he made no
mistake firing the ball past Shay Given.
Both sides had penalty claims, with Stelios claiming to be fouled
after falling over from a minimal push by Bramble and Newcastle appealing
for what looked like an accidental Bruno N’Gotty handball.
Only two minutes after the restart, Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim was
booked for blatantly wrapping both his legs around Shola Ameobi after
the Newcastle striker had done well to leave Haim dead in the water
with a superb turn.
And then few minutes later, a superb Dyer dribble which saw him in
clear sight of the goal, only to be blatantly tripped by Fernando
Hierro and the referee saw it fit only to award him a yellow card.
Laurent Robert wastefully shot the resulting freekick just wide from
a good position.
However Dyer had the last laugh when at 68 minutes gone. Alan Shearer
received the ball just in the box but his shot was blocked by N’Gotty.
However Dyer was there on hand to blast the ball to the roof of the
net, despite Bowyer hovering closely around looking to steal Dyer’s
thunder once again.
However just a few minutes later Bolton right-back Candela was allowed
a free run at the goal only to somehow blast the ball over the bar
as he reached the edge of the box.
This was the last time Bolton would threaten the Newcastle goal, as
The Toon coasted to another deserved victory.
Newcastle could have had another goal as Dyer squared up Jenas (who
had been substituted on for Robert) who shrugged off Bolton defender
Haim but dallied on the ball allowing Haim to recover and creep in
a superb tackle to clear the danger.
Robert might have had a less productive game but the fact that Bolton
jammed both Stelios and Candela on him played a factor and anyway
he did himself proud tracking back and tackling when not in possession
of the ball.
Bramble and Boumsong were excellent the defence, long may it continue.
Carr was a great attacking force from the right. Ameobi showed some
nice moves but lacks the killer instinct front of the goal and Lee
Bowyer never stopped battling in the midfield.
But the day was clearly Dyer’s day – who scored the match winning
goal and put in another wonderful performance and is slowly winning
back (or finally winning over?) the Toon faithful.
Toon
Player Ratings Vs Bolton Wanderers
| Newcastle
United |
Bolton |
Match
Facts & Stats
Half-Time: 1-1
Full-Time: 2-1
Yellow Cards: 2
Red Cards: 0
Goalscorers: Bowyer
(35), Dyer (69)
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 0
Substitutions: 1
Jenas (Robert 77)
Injuries: None to report of
Goalscorers: Giannakopoulos
(41)
Yellow Cards: Haim (47), Hierro (50)
Red Cards: 0
Substitutions: 3
Fadiga (Hunt 14), Campo (Hierro 64), Vaz Te (Okocha 77)
Injuries: Hunt (shoulder) |
| Given |
Jaaskelainen |
| Carr |
Tal
Ben Haim |
| Boumsong |
Fernando Hierro
|
| Bramble |
N'Gotty |
| Babayaro |
Hunt |
| Dyer |
Giannakopoulos
|
| Faye |
Gardner |
| Bowyer |
Speed |
| Robert |
Vincent Candela
|
| Shearer |
Davies |
| Ameobi |
Okocha |
| Substitutes
Bench |
| Harper |
Poole |
|
Hughes |
Campo |
| Milner |
Jaidi |
|
Butt |
Fadiga |
| Jenas |
Vaz Te |
Lowest League attendance of the season. 50th win over Bolton in all
competitions. Bowyer's 6th of the season and 8th goal for United since
signing.
| How The Goals Were
Scored |
NUFC Goal 35 Minutes: Lee Bowyer
Bowyer picked up the ball in midfield, switched play to Carr on the
right flank who whipped in a great ball that Bowyer got on the end
of. Climbing above Dyer to power in an unstoppable header. A great
goal.
Bolton Goal Goal 41 Minutes: Stelios Giannakopoulos
A sweet move involving Okocha, Davies and Speed was rounded off with
a thumping low volley past Given in the United goal.
NUFC Goal 69 Minutes: Kieron Dyer
Shearer's shot was blocked with the loose ball being thumped home
on the volley by Dyer 8 yards out.
| Match Reaction From
Graeme Souness |
Souness said:
 "All
the successful teams that win things have midfielders who all get
near double figures every year. That is an obvious criticism of Kieron
- the only criticism, I think.
"But I would think if there is any ex-player that can teach him about
scoring goals from midfield, it would be Terry McDermott. He was nearly
a 20-goal-a-season man from midfield.
"But he had some good players playing with him.
"It is not his strongest point, his heading, but he will get goals
from that position, I am sure he will. He has all the attributes to
play there. He is extremely athletic - running for him is not difficult,
he just floats across the top of the grass. His feet hardly touch
the ground, so box-to-box, which you are asked to do as a wide player,
is easy for him.
"We have exciting players here and we have got to get the exciting
players playing well and exciting the crowd.
"Midfield is a dilemma for me but it's the kind you want as a manager
because we have some real quality in that department. We have a lot
of midfielders and most of them want to play in the centre. Only Laurent
Robert is happy being wide.
"Nicky has not played a lot of football in the last four months, while
JJ has maybe played too much as he's been involved in every game more
or less. We'd had a game on Thursday and I had that in mind too, so
I wanted to freshen things up and I brought Lee back into the side.
"Kieron is a proper little football player. He had a great 90 minutes
and he capped that with the goal.
"Alan Shearer probably had his best game of football for me yesterday.
| Match Reaction From Sam
Allardyce |
Big Sam said:
"I was disappointed in the final result and, of course, the second-half
performance - particularly because we had done so well in the first
half.
"I would not have expected us to come out and perform like we
did.
"We lost the game deservedly by allowing Newcastle to do what
they are so good at, and that is to attack and attack and attack." |
 |
Toon
Shirts |
|
Sponsors |
|
|
