Sunday March 26th 2006
CHARLTON ATH 3 NEWCASTLE UTD 1
CHARLTON: Myhre, Young, Perry, Hreidarsson, Powell, Kishishev,Holland, Hughes, Thomas (Rommedahl 76),Marcus Bent (Bothroyd 88), Darren Bent.
Subs Not Used: Andersen, Euell, Spector.
NEWCASTLE UTD: Given, Carr, Boumsong, Moore, Ramage,Solano (Dyer 45), Bowyer, Parker, Emre, Shearer,Ameobi (N'Zogbia 71).
Subs Not Used: Harper, Faye, Clark.
Att: 27,019
Scott Parker was back to face the boos from the fickle Cocknies, having left under a cloud to join Chelsea. It was only a shame the joy of his brilliant 35th-minute equaliser only lasted a matter of seconds before the Toon back-line had the Charlton fans singing again.
Newcastle started the brighter, and it was against the run of play that Charlton won the penalty in the 23rd minute to knock the stuffing out of the Geordies. Australian Craig Moore was making his first start for the club since the pre-season friendlies last summer, and his high tackle on Jerome Thomas left the referee with only one choice to make - was it inside or outside the box? Video footage shows the ref got it right, and Darren Bent struck his 20th goal of the season into the bottom-left corner past Shay Given.
Then came the moment of magic - Parker collected Shearer's square pass from the left, and planted the ball right in the top-right corner before racing the length of the field to celebrate in front of the Newcastle fans.
But the delight was short-lived, as Charlton regained the lead in bizarre fashion 60 seconds later. After Hermann Hreidarsson had won Chris Perry's free-kick in the air, Moore whacked his clearance against the back-tracking Bowyer, who could only watch in horror as the ball cannoned into his own net from six yards.
But Alan Curbishley's team continued to attack in the final phase of the match, and scored their third when substitute Jay Bothroyd - with his first touch - headed in a near-post cross from fellow sub Dennis Rommedahl two minutes from full-time.