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Premiership: NUFC 1-0 Chelsea
By Paul Mosley 08 May 2006
Titus Bramble's acrobatic volley in the 73rd minute saw us defeat depleted champions Chelsea 1-0 at St James Park, thereby securing 7th place and England's only Intertoto Cup spot.
Michael Owen was not deemed fit enough to even sit on the bench, with the only change from the XI at Birmingham last week was Emre replacing Matty Pattison. Chelsea rested many of their big names, including England duo Frank Lampard and John Terry, Didier Drogba and Hernan Crespo, and Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech. Carlo Cudicini, due to be in goal for, and captain, the visitors, was then injured in the warm-up and replaced by Lenny Pidgeley, who made his 1st ever Premiership start.
The 1st half was one of few chances, with Damien Duff having the best opportunity, but scuffing his shot and allowing Shay Given to make a comfortable save. For United, Solano curled a free kick just wide, and debutant Pidgeley wasn't looking entirely comfortable. But our chances took a serious blow when Solano was stretchered off after half an hour and replaced by Boumsong.
On the hour Arjen Robben almost broke away, but Babayaro felled him miles away from goal, with a cynical trip. Referee Riley was surrounded by Chelsea players, but did the right thing in showing only a yellow card. Moments later the visitors had the ball in the net, but William Gallas was correctly ruled offside as he put the ball in the net. At that moment, Bolton took the lead against Birmingham, moving them into 7th spot.
With United not looking like scoring, our Intertoto chances didn't look good. They looked even worse as Boumsong sat on the ball in his own penalty area, and Maniche lined up an effort which came back off the post, only for Wright-Phillips to net the rebound. However, another offside flag denied Chelsea.
Then, out of nowhere, we regained pole position in the Intertoto race, as Emre's corner was flicked across goal by Amady Faye to Bramble, who launched an unstoppable volley beyond Pidgeley.
Moments later Carr attacked but was dispossessed, and then seemed to leave his foot in on Diarra. Riley certainly thought so, and sent Carr off. However, there was very little, if any contact, between the 2 players.
That left a very nervy final quarter hour to see out, plus no doubt 5 or 6 added minutes. Amazingly the board only said 3, and we held on until Riley blew his whistle.
NUFC: Given, Carr, Bramble, Moore, Babayaro, Solano (Boumsong 31 mins), Faye, Emre, N'Zogbia, Chopra (Clark 77 mins), Ameobi.
Subs not used: Harper, Elliott, Pattison.
Booked: N'Zogbia, Babayaro, Emre, Moore.
Sent Off: Carr.
Goal: Bramble 73 mins.
Chelsea: Pidgeley, Paulo Ferreira, Huth (Wright-Phillips 45 mins), Ricardo Carvalho (Smith 81 mins), Gallas, Johnson, Diarra, Maniche, Robben, Joe Cole, Duff (Carlton Cole 45 mins).
Sub not used: Mancienne.
Booked: Ricardo Carvalho, Gallas.
Crowd: 52,309
Referee: Mike Riley (Leeds).
Glenn Roeder on the victory:
"I feel exactly the same as I have always done when I come up here after we have won a game, very satisfied. It's a shame the season is finishing, isn't it? We have come from nowhere. We have come from nowhere to get a stab at the Uefa Cup next year via the Intertoto Cup."
Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, could only whinge about officialdom yet again:
"There should have been a penalty when Jean-Alain Boumsong clashed with Ricardo Carvalho. Now Carvalho has to go to hospital as a result. Celestine Babayaro should have got a red for his tackle on Arjen Robben. I hope the referees go on their holidays now and come back with new thoughts for next season." |
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