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Barclays Premiership Match 17 |
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Season 2007-2008 |
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FULHAM |
0 v 1 |
NEWCASTLE UNITED |
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Joey Barton 90 (pen) |
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Date: |
Saturday 15th December 2007 |
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Venue: |
Craven Cottage |
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Kick Off: |
5:15pm (BST) |
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Australian
Live TV:
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Foxsports 3 |
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Attendance: |
24,959 |
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Referee: |
Howard Webb
(Rotherham, Yorkshire) |
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Match Preview |
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Fulham:
Niemi, Omozusi, Hughes, Stefanovic, Bocanegra, Davies, Murphy, Davis (Kuqi
75), Bouazza, Healy, Dempsey
Subs Not Used: Warner, Ki-Hyeon, Smertin, Baird
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Booked:
None |
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Newcastle:
Given, N'Zogbia,
Rozehnal, Cacapa, Beye, Geremi (Emre 59), Butt, Barton, Milner, Smith,
Martins (Viduka 77)
Subs Not Used: Harper, Jose Enrique, Edgar |
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Booked:
Emre |
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Post
Match Comment:
Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce:
"It
was a crucial, crucial victory, it wasn't pretty, we didn't play well
but we were very resilient and nullified them. The late winner shows
that we give our all right to the end. We are very fit now and it shows
we can win late on. We were always in the game and I said to my players
that they were struggling at home and we can get at them.
We have played much, much better than this and
lost, particularly in our last away game when we played Blackburn off
the park. Today we probably didn't deserve to win but they certainly
didn't deserve to, that's for sure.
It was a penalty, yes. The challenge was made, he completely missed the
ball and took the man over. The referee was there on the spot right in
front of it and gave the right decision.
Points are all-important in the Premier League. We dealt with what
Fulham had to offer and waited for our opportunity. We got one at the
very end and got three very valuable points.
I said before the game that
I wanted to send our fans home happy and I'm delighted we've got the win
to do that. They were simply magnificent again today and it was great to
get the winner in front of them as well. You could see by the
celebrations of the players and the fans how much it meant.
To have 4,000 fans here on a Saturday tea-time in London and so close to
Christmas was brilliant and was a huge boost."
Fulham manager
Lawrie Sanchez:
"The first half wasn't much of a game but we came out and dominated and
controlled it.
"I thought we were
by far and away the better team and going into the last 15 minutes Sam
Allardyce wanted a draw, but I wanted a win." |
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Match Report: |
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We kept a clean sheet,
we scored a penalty and we went home with 3 points. End of story.
Obviously it’s wasn’t quite as simple as that but the sentiment still
stands.
A quite forgettable game on a cold winters evening in the capital, saw
two teams playing some poor scrappy football, with both sides struggling
to carve out many decent chances but a injury time penalty by Joey
Barton stole with us the 3 points.
We started the game lively enough, creating a string of corners. James
Milner and Charles N’Zogbia again were linking up well down our left
flank but it soon became apparent again that this was to be our only
chief avenue of attack. Opposition managers must know by now that if
Geremi starts at right midfield then we will pose no threat down the
right.
What is Geremi’s role in our side at the moment? He is no right
midfielder these days and seems best suited in the holding role in
midfield or at right back but with Nicky Butt and Habib Beye both
occupying those roles admirably, there wouldn’t seem much future in the
starting XI for Geremi. It will be interesting to see what Big Sam does
when Damien Duff is back to 100% match fitness. He has praised the
talents of Duff in recent days, so I’m hoping he will move Milner over
to the right and bring Duff in on the left. We do need attacking options
down both flanks otherwise we run the risk of become extremely
predictable.
Half time arrived to boos from the home fans, which was by the far the
most we had heard from them in the game.
The second half saw Fulham at least try and go forward with David Healy
and Clint Dempsey coming into the game more. Healy did test Given with a
couple of efforts but nothing that caused the Irish international much
stress at all.
The Toon Army were again magnificent all game. Their relentless chanting
and backing of the team could clearing be heard on the TV despite the
general lack of excitement being offered on the pitch.
In the 91st minute, with the game petering out into a bore draw, the
Toon Army were rewarded for their efforts. A Mark Viduka flick on to
Alan Smith saw Elliot Omozusi bring down Smith in the box and Howard
Webb had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. With recent penalty
taker Obafemi Martins being subbed for Viduka some 13 minutes earlier,
the responsibility was handed to Joey Barton.
I have to confess I wasn’t confident at all. Not because it was Joey
Barton taking the penalty as such, just more the fact that we were
giving such an opportunity to win the game. It seemed too easy and we’d
had our bit of luck last week with an injury time winner, surely
lighting couldn’t strike twice in two weeks?
My fears were dismissed as Barton stepped up to coolly slot home his
first goal for the club, sparking jubilant scenes amongst the Toon Army
in the Putney end. Dave our man at the match (who as you can see from
the above picture was perfectly placed) said "jeez its been a while
since I've seen a goal celebrated in the way it was - it wasn't Rob
Lee's Wembley goal which I ended up 8 rows away, but I saw plenty of
people doing nearly the same thing!! You also saw in how the players
reacted, how much it meant and probably more importantly that they
actually cared."
A classic smash and grab raid and with it being in London it made it
even more sweeter. We went long enough without a win in the capital, so
I still celebrate everyone with the same relief as that night at
Highbury. |
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AUSSIE MAGS |
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