Saturday Speculations

The scores from our rivals’ matches went well for us on the whole with Reading, Fulham and Boro losing and Wigan dropping two home points. There was of course the small matter of Bolton winning, which left them just four points behind us, but if we beat them at their place on May 3, they can’t overtake us whatever happens in our or their other games. Reading are now looking like favourites to get the third relegation spot. Derby also lost and I’m rooting for them to beat our worst ever points tally. As for tomorrow’s match, I can see there being quite a few goals and I don’t think we’ll lose, final score 2-2 or 2-3 to us. I think the script is definitely written for Chops to score, probably from a penalty. It’s all been decidedly kissy-kissy on the surface between the two managers this week and we even seem to have received a veiled apology for all the crucial refereeing decisions that have gone against us this season. I wonder if, even in a teeny way, that might influence the officials tomorrow?

Sunday Pre-Match Preparations

Unfortunately I’ve been feeling like shite for a couple of days and so I’ve had to abandon my plans to watch the game at the Pavilion along the road and have settled for Radio Newcastle via SAFC.com. Tuning into Five Live at 1.20 Villa were three up against Birmingham and that was a good pre-match boost. I was surprised to hear that Higginbotham was in the starting line-up for Evans, McShane for Bardsley and Miller for Richardson. I was pleased to see Miller back, but with Harte also being on the bench memories of the 7-1 defeat at Everton passed through my mind.

The Match

I’d just got settled down when Owen nipped in behind McShane to head them 1-0 up. We continued to be on the back foot for the rest of the half with our play being characterized by a lot of sloppy passing. We weren’t doing much at all upfront with Kenwyne fighting a lone battle against two big central defenders. On 25 minutes news of Villa beating Brum 5-1 came through and Chops was starting to warm up and both items brought me a little much-needed cheer. I switched over to the Five Live commentary to get a better sound and then Whitehead had our first real chance of the game but we weren’t playing at all well and Edwards was contributing little. The next real action in a dour game was just before the break when Higginbotham conceded a penalty that Owen converted, though he struck it badly and Gordon almost saved it. It couldn’t have come at a worse time. At half-time Steve Stone said we hadn’t played with any quality. A few changes were definitely on the cards with hopefully Chops and Richardson coming on for the whole half. Our prospects were looking decidedly grim at this point but an early goal back would make all the difference…

Surprisingly we made no changes but we started off more brightly forcing two corners and spending a lot more time in their half. Soon Richardson came on for Edwards and both he and Reid started to impose themselves on the game and we had several good chances. As the half went on we were having the better of it and the home crowd were getting a bit frustrated. We were also totting up the yellow-cards with Nos being the fifth to receive one about ten minutes from the end. Shortly after that Chops came on at last, for Murphy, and he was given a warm welcome by the locals, not. I really don’t see why he wasn’t on from the start as we would have been guaranteed total commitment from him. Harte came on for McShane four minutes from the end and on today’s performance I doubt whether we’ll see Paul play for us again for a long time, if at all. Newcastle were packing their defence and it grew increasingly unlikely that we’d even get a consolation goal.

Well, it’s over now so let’s look forward to next week when we can surely get at least a draw against Boro and if we do, I think we should be safe then.

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