9 minute mark: Meghni gets the ball from their keeper.. he passes it into the box to Julio.. Julio on the right side of the box.. blasts a shot.. upper left corner.. Howard dives.. it is out of his reach.. GOAL. Down 1-0.
12 minute mark: Meghni gets a yellow card for a nasty tackle on Downing.
20 minute mark: Saha steals it from a defender deep in their turf.. dribbles into the box.. shoots.. good save by the keeper.
26 minute mark: Downing crosses to Eagles in the right side of the box.. he shoots.. wide right.
Halftime: 1-0 lead for Newcastle. They are outplaying us at this point. They have over 50,000 fans here tonight.
52 minute mark: They have a full on attack.. Lucio intercepts a pass.. passes it to Marino just outside our own box.. he passes down most of the pitch to Saha who is hanging back with only 1 defender.. Saha puts a move on the defender.. dribbles into the box.. shoots.. upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 1-1.
55 minute mark: O'Shea heads away a corner kick.. Marino gets the ball.. passes long to Saha.. he dribbles into the box.. shoots.. past the keeper.. it hits the crossbar! They clear the rebound.
58 minute mark: O'Shea with a header to Fletcher.. he passes to Djemba who is breaking down field.. Djemba with a breakaway.. hard shot.. good save by the keeper.
61 minute mark: Marino is tired, I sub on Ruud van Nistelrooy. I also sub on Grygera for Brown who is tired.
65 minute mark: Downing gets a yellow card for tripping Jensen.
73 minute mark: Eagles with a brilliant dribble down the right side of the pitch.. great moves on 2 different defenders.. crosses.. far post.. Saha with a diving header.. into the upper left corner.. GOAL!!!! 2-1! What a goal!
85 minute mark: Downing with a strong dribble.. crosses to Ruud van Nistelrooy.. strong header.. the keeper barely blocks it.. Eagles shoots the rebound.. Kroidrup saved a goal for his keeper by heading away the shot.
86 minute mark: Diego Placente gets a yellow card for tripping Eagles.
88 minute mark: Grygera intercepts a pass for Podolski.. he passes all the way down the pitch to the right corner of the box.. Ruud gets to it.. centers for Saha.. hard shot.. amazing save by the keeper to block it.. the defense clears.
91 minute mark: Downing crosses to Eagles who heads it to Ruud van Nistelrooy in the center of the box.. he heads it into the upper left corner of the goal! GOAL!!!! 3-1. Very nice looking team goal.
Game over. 3-1 win
We dominated the second half.
We outshot them 20-10 (10-6 on target)
Downing wins MoM, 10 for form, 26 of 27 passes, 6 of 11 tackles, 0 of 2 headers, 1 intercpetion, 7 runs, 1 foul drawn.
Saha also had a 10 for form, Eagles had a 9. RvN, Silvestre, O'Shea, Lucio, and Fletcher all had 8's. The rest of the team had 7's.