Saturday December 9th 2006BLACKBURN ROVERS 1 NEWCASTLE UTD 3
BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Ooijer, Henchoz, Gray,Bentley (Todd 46), Savage, Kerimoglu, Pedersen,Nonda (Derbyshire 46), McCarthy.
Subs Not Used: Brown, Mokoena, Peter.
NEWCASTLE: Given, Solano (Rossi 67), Ramage, Taylor, Babayaro,Milner, Butt, Emre (Pattison 54), N'Zogbia, Martins,Sibierski (Huntington 86).
Subs Not Used: Srnicek, Luque.
Yep, the "most fickle fans in the Premiership" are going back to their holes. Ewood Park has a capacity of 31,367 and only 19,225 turned up - supplemented by thousands of Mags of course - and you get the drift they will return to four figures if they hit the relegation trap door.
This place was rocked to its rafters last season when Craig Bellamy faced Newcastle for the first time and United crushed the 3-0. Bellars side-stepped Souness at the final whistle, probably the only time he side-stepped anyone all match. And the Toon fans were in raptures.
This match was probably just as refreshing, as Glenn Roeder proved beyond all doubt that Newcastle CAN maintain their recent revival despite having almost a full team side-lined.
Two goals in four first-half minutes from Obafemi Martins and Steven Taylor set the Magpies on their way and Stephane Henchoz just about sealed the victory by seeing a red card for a foul on Martins just before the break.
Morten Gamst Pedersen pulled one back for the home side, but Martins made it six defeats in eight Premiership games for Rovers with an injury-time strike when Rovers took a major gamble.
The result was superb, but the way Rovers went about kicking Emre off the field of play left a bitter taste. They set about him early in the game, and finally achieved their goal in the second period. We DON'T need this in the game!
South Africa international Benni McCarthy twice beat goalkeeper Shay Given in the space of eight minutes, only to be ruled offside on both occasions. Assistant referee John Holbrook's judgment was correct on both decisions.
But after the half hour the game turned for Newcastle. Antoine Sibierski delivered a ball over the top of the Rovers defence and Martins rifled a half-volley past Brad Friedel for his fifth goal of the season.
Four minutes later and the Magpies crushed Mark Hughes' side, thanks to ex-Mackem Michael Gray, who failed to prevent James Milner from delivering a cross to the far post. Charles N'Zogbia beat Pedersen and set up Taylor the easiest of strikes from four yards.
To add to Rovers woe, Henchoz was shown a straight red card by referee Dermot Gallagher in the 40th minute for a foul on Martins. As last man, the 32-year-old had to go.
Pedersen hit a 25-yard right-foot drive into the top right corner for to beat Shay Given to give Rovers some hope. Then Emre was taken off on a stretcher following a 51st minute tackle by the Rovers goalscorer, it looked as the Turkish midfielder could have sustained a broken leg.
After Martins missed an 84th-minute breakaway chance for 3-1, and Given denied Pedersen with another fine save from underneath his own crossbar, it was the Nigerian who had the final say.
With even Friedel pushed forward for successive corners in injury time, Newcastle broke to great effect, with Martins stroking home the third from 30 yards into an empty net.