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Newcastle United	1 - 0	Everton
Half time:	1 - 0
Score Sheet:
LuaLua (39)
	Teams
Steve Harper Ryan McGuffie Olivier Bernard Gary Caldwell David Beharall Jamie McClen Diego Gavilan Mark Boyd Lomana LuaLua Pablo Bonvin Stephen Glass	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11	Thomas Myhre Tony Hibbert Alessandro Pistone David Unsworth Peter Clarke Keith Southern Idan Tal Stephen Hughes Phil Jevons Leon Osman Kevin McLeod
Substitutes:
Jamie Coppinger for LuaLua (68) Colin McMenamin for Bonvin (68)		Jamie Milligan for Hughes (56) George Pilkington for McLeod (77)
Subs not used:
Joe Kendrick Bradley Orr David Cowan		Andrew Pettinger Matt McKay Sean O'Hanlon
Bookings:
Hughes (54)		Boyd (54)
Referee: N. Bannister
Attendance: 422. Lowest of the season at KP, barely half the number who came to the previous home game against Blackburn. Had the visitors not brought more than the usual number of spectators at this level, things would have been much worse. Amongst the usual scouts and associated hangers-on were a SKY film crew, who had been wrongly informed that Gazza was making a playing return to Tyneside for the visitors. Everton Manager Walter Smith was again in attendance, with sidekicks Archie Knox and Dave Watson, while an interested onlooker was former Scotland International Joe Jordan. Uncle Bobby and Mick Wadsworth were there as usual, and Daniel Cordone was spotted in the bar watching the mackems on TV, while Steve Caldwell braved the cold and watched the game from the Newcastle bench.

39 mins.  A free kick was correctly awarded midway down the United right when Pistone fouled Gavilan. Intially the Paraguayan attempted to take a throw, but  Glass claimed the ball and set it down, before powering a looping effort to the far side of the Everton area. Gary Caldwell rose highest to head the ball dangerously back across goal, and although Bonvin was unable to finish in a central position despite the keeper being off his line, LuaLua was on hand to hook the ball home at the near post into the unguarded net. 1-0

Half time: Newcastle 1 Everton 0

Full time: Newcastle 1 Everton 0

12 mins After the slowest and most uneventful of starts, United vainly claimed a penalty when Boyd threaded a pass through to LuaLua and the latter tumbled when pressurised in the box. Rightly the referee ignored shouts for a spot kick.

15 mins Jamie McClen, playing in more of a wide left role than usual, won a tackle in midfield before striding forward and placing his speculative 20 yard shot low to the goalkeepers left, but also well wide of the post.

25 mins Another one of United's sporadic attacks, this time as LuaLua took the ball down the left and poked it through to Bonvin. His 15 yard snap shot rebounded off the post but he was rightly adjudged offside by the linesman.

29 mins The first outbreak of football from either side, as LuaLua used his pace to get past Hibbert and to the byline down the United left, following good work by Boyd. Unfortunately the cross was directed to nobody in particular and caused the visiting defence no problems.

39 mins United go 1-0 up (see above.)

40 mins Almost an instant reply from Everton, as Tal was allowed to advance on goal unchallenged, before slipping an astute ball through to Osman, who found himself unmarked on the edge of the United area. He seemed a certain scorer, but with Harper advancing and Gary Caldwell bearing down on him, he dragged his shot wide of the goal.

46 mins Newcastle were close to doubling their lead in added time, as a great ball from Bonvin in the centre circle released Glass away down the United left. He evaded the advancing keeper, but found himself running out of pitch with a narrowing angle for a shot. His attempt was blocked, the rebound falling to Bonvin, who also had a punt, but saw his effort bounce off a defender.

48 mins Bonvin tussled with a defender on the edge of the Everton defence and managed to try a snap shot, but it sailed over Myhre's goal.

54 mins Poor refereeing from Mr Bannister, who saw Boyd of Newcastle and Hughes of Everton clash in the centre circle, and took no action until Hughes then took a swing at Boyd. His reaction? to book both players, Boyd in effect being yellow-carded for the pleasure of taking a slap in the face.

56 mins The Everton coach gave his own verdict on the Hughes action when he substituted him almost immediately. The player slouched off to the dressing room with what can only be described as a pet lip on.

60 mins Suspicions that Harper wasn't moved freely seemed to be confirmed when Gary Caldwell came back to take a United bykick.

61 mins LuaLua reverted to type when he ignored the shouts of his colleagues and opted to shoot after cutting in across the left edge of the Everton area. Glass and McClen had combined to set him away but his shot was well wide.

77 mins With a further Everton subsititution, Pistone moved forward into a left-sided midfield berth.

83 mins With Everton becoming more urgent in their attempts to fashion an equaliser, Tal and Osman made progress down the left before the latter pulled a low centre back for Southern. Fortunately for Newcastle however, his shot passed just over Harper's bar.

90 mins A few brief flurries on the edge of the Newcastle box in the closing stage looked as if they might yet deny Tommy Craig a second home win, but strong tackles from Caldwell and Beharall plus the continued inability of Pistone to accurately hit a dead ball meant that United held out, despite a generous helping of inexplicable injury time being added.

  

Tommy Craig commented:

I was pleased with the win. We played some really good stuff in the first half but it wasn't as pretty in the second half 

"The pitch was getting worse as the game wore on. It was a hard and tricky surface to play on and I always felt Everton were a threat.

"You're always vulnerable at 1-0 and in that respect our two centre-halves, Gary Caldwell and David Beharall, were superb. Steve Harper also made two or three important saves to keep us in front."

"I just felt that we lost composure a little bit and - I don't want us to just kick the ball anywhere.

"I obviously want to win but was disappointed a little bit with that but I have to say we showed a lot of character and resilience in our defending in the second-half."

Returning ex-Magpie 'Sandro Pistone commented:

"It felt very good to get back playing. For a first game it was really positive because I have been able to play for 90 minutes with no problems and I am happy about it.

"It was a bad injury and it has taken me a long time to get this far and I just want to be back as soon as possible."

It's better not to think of what has happened but more important to look forward and be back playing games this season."

"We played much better in the second-half and didn't really let Newcastle move out of their half. In the first half of the game we didn't play really play well but the important thing is that we had a lot of chances to draw or even win the game."

It wasn't pretty and there wasn't a great deal to warm the cockles (wherever they may be) of the few fans who turned out on a chilly Tyneside night, but our second home win of the season was duly claimed against a team who are third in the league and who comfortably overcame us 3-1 in the reverse fixture. Progress of a sort.

A couple of changes to the side that did so well down at Boro unfortunately made for a slightly unbalanced look, and Coppinger and McMenamin were "rewarded" for their goalscoring feats by being demoted to substitute. This left the attacking duties to be shared between Bonvin, who is having something of a thin time of things at present, and LuaLua, who continues to mystify colleagues, opponents and supporters alike.

However, he was perfectly placed to knock home the ball when we fashioned a rare goalscoring opportunity - his fifth of the season at this level. Perhaps if Gavilan had followed the instructions of coach Tommy Craig and pushed further upfield we may have had more incident in the final third of the pitch, but the result was of paramount importance, the first time this season we've managed to string back to back clean sheets or victories together this season.

With Harper replacing Karelse, the team had an even younger average age than at the Boro, Stephen Glass becoming the elder statesmen outfield at the age of 24! Two of our regular performers at this level were also missing - 19 year olds Stuart Green and Brian Kerr, both out injured with dislocated shoulders. 

Of course, two of our more promising prospects being injured and the side then running into some better form is typical Newcastle, but when they do make their comebacks, they'll return to find a more buoyant and confident set of players. To the credit of the youngsters, they've dug themselves out of a mid-season hole without the benefit of experienced first teamers being drafted in to bail them out. 

Reserves