The match with Reading was stopped by the crash-landing of ... can you believe ... a Woodcock!
Now I've seen many creatures at Newcastle matches over the years, including stray dogs and cats that have stopped games, but this was certainly a first for me.
It circled the pitch a couple of times, and I thought it was an owl at first, then it tried to get over the roof at the Gallowgate End but couldn't get the height. In the end in ran out of puff and hit the deck close to the dugout. Oba Martins came to the rescue, picked it up and handed it to a steward, then it was released in Leazes Park.
There used to be an owl that used to frequent the ground in the early 1990s during night games. Then there was that situation at Maine Road when a Newcastle fan took a Magpie to the match and clipped its wings so it couldn't fly. The Mirror made quite a story of it, calling the Toon Army "barbarians".
Unlike the Mirror to have a pop at Newcastle ... eh?