Newcastle United(2) 5 Peacock(12), Ginola(30), Ferdinand(63),
                     Shearer(75), Albert(83)
Man United      (0) 0 
Att: 36,579

Newcastle:     Srnicek, Watson (Barton 87), Peacock, Albert, Beresford, 
               Batty, Lee (Clark 87), Beardsley, Ginola, Shearer, Ferdinand
Subs not used: Hislop, Asprilla, Gillespie

Man United:    Schmeichel, G. Neville, Irwin, May, Pallister,
               Poborsky (Scholes 66), Beckham, Johnsen (McClair 66), 
               Butt, Solskjaer (Cruyff 56), Cantona
Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, P. Neville

Humiliation

Walking away from Wembley in August was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. On the pitch and from above we got totally pissed on. The Man United fans at the tube station were too embarrassed to even catch our eye with their smug, self-satisfied grins. They didn't need to. "Our day will come," I promised myself. On October 20th, 1996 our day came.

Ironically, exactly the same team that played at Wembley made its way out onto the St. James' turf to face the only unbeaten team in the league. The same unbalanced, tactically naive, eleven players that were crushed 4-0 at the twin towers squared up to the side that had just staked their claim to be Europe's cream, England's finest.

I've been hurt too many times in the past 25 years to have even dared hope for a victory but I still clung to hopes of the morale boosting point that would take us back to the top of the Premiership. Just 12 minutes gone and a Ginola corner was headed back across the box by Shearer for Peacock to nod the ball goalwards. Irwin seemed sure to clear but from behind the line he was slow to swing his right boot and as the replays clearly showed the ball had crossed the line.

Watson and Pav then showed a bit of indecision that let in the freakish-looking Poborsky. He touched it past Pav and without a hope of collecting the ball he set off his own personal land-mine as the keeper committed himself. The ref was suitably unimpressed and left the straggly-haired fop on his knees begging. Two decisions going against the filth in one season is hard for them to stomach but in one game? Like spoilt kids they wanted to take the ball and go home. They should have.

On the half hour Ginola span round on the left edge of the box and hit one of his usual thunderbolts high and wide of the bar. Only this one didn't reach row Z, it was intercepted by the top corner of Schmeichel's net which bulged beautifully and our lead doubled.

Nicky Butt then took exception to David Batty plagiarising his own tackling style. The two disagreed over who held copyright but as Batty held Butt's throat David's argument became pretty persuasive. The ref carded them both, joining Rudolph the Red Nosed Dane and May in the book. Shearer hit a powerful drive against the upright and we held firm in the wake of some late first-half pressure.

Now, we are capable of almost throwing a two goal lead away against a team struggling with ten men so I wasn't exactly ready to sit back and start counting the three points. They came close early in the second half with Steve Watson clearing a Cantona effort. We needed another and Shearer provided it. A superb run and cross by the England captain found his striking partner's head and in turn, Les Ferdinand found the back of the net via the bar.

The reds were rattled. Not only were they frustrated by the referee and the three goal deficit but I'm sure they were having trouble spotting eachother in their unfamiliar white socks. White is obviously much harder to see than the usual black and Cantona decided he wanted Beardsley's pair. Unfortunately, like most spoilt kids he forgot that little word and instead thought dismembering Peter was his best bet. Mais non Monsieur! Classically, the Scum kept possession after we put the ball out for Beardsley's treatment. How they love to be hated.

Beardsley returned and jinked into the area to unleash a drive that Rudolph palmed out to Les. Another block by the Dane fell to Shearer who tucked it home to make it four. We'd paid them back for Wembley and a clean sheet was the aim for the last 15 minutes. Albert had different ideas. Cantona had lashed out at the Belgian at Wembley and he'd done the same again today without punishment. Phillippe wanted to exact his own form of retribution which he did by rampaging towards the Manchester area before sending the perfect chip over the red-faced Schmeichel.

This was the biggest defeat the Old Trafford outfit had suffered for 12 years when Everton thrashed them 5-0 in 1984. In that time AC Milan, Juventus and Barcelona had all been unable to demolish the arrogant dirt in the comprehensive way that we did today. The humiliation was complete when Albert went and kissed Cantona on the cheek at the end of the game. The Frenchman pushed away Phillippe in a manner that suggested the gesture was unwelcome.

All I can say after a performance like that is that the Man United players are cheating their manager. You'd think it was more important for them to win in Turkey than to try and retain their domestic title. Never has the phrase "what goes around comes around" been more appropriate. Keegan must have loved trying not to laugh openly in Taggart's face at the final whistle. I bet he loved it, loved it.

This was a quarter of a century in coming for me and I'd like to think the memories of this day are still as sweet in 50 years. This was our day of revenge but more importantly our day of self-belief. The day when we realised we can't just live with the best, we can annihilate the best. I'm sure the media will make excuses for Man United and still question our defence (that's the one that kept a clean sheet today) but the importance of this game is in the minds of the victorious players. Psychologically, thrashing the Mancs should give them the confidence and belief to go on and fulfill their enormous potential. The title may still be in the far distance but this should set us firmly on the road to our long-awaited success.

Niall MacKenzie