Newcastle United Football Club - Match reports

Season 1997-98
Bradford City (a) Friendly

Date: Wednesday 30th July 1997, 7.45pm

Venue: Valley Parade

Conditions: warm

Admission: Ł13

Programme: Ł1

Bradford City		Newcastle
	0 - 3
Half time:	0 - 3

Score Sheet:
		Asprilla (7) Beardsley (27) Watson (39)

	Teams
Prudhoe Wilder Moore O'Brien McLean Midgley Donaldson Ramage Sepp Steiner Sundgot		Hislop Hughes Beresford Albert Pearce Watson Hamilton Batty Ketsbaia Beardsley Asprilla

Substitutes:
(34) Mohan for Donaldson (46) Kiwomya for Ramage (46) Dreyer for Wilder		Pistone for Beresford (46) Crawford for Batty (62) Elliott for Albert (71) Pinas for Asprilla (89)

Subs not used:
None (tbc)		Barton Given

Bookings:
None		None
Dismissals:
None		None

Referee: R.Fumandiz (Doncaster)

Attendance: 8.470

Goals

7 mins Asprilla shot 1-0

27 mins Beardsley lob 2-0

39 mins Watson volley from close range 3-0

Half time: City 0 United 3

Full time: City 0 United 3

We Said

Kenny Dalglish:

To follow

They Said

Chris Kamara:

To follow

Stats

Alessandro Pistone made his Magpies bow from the bench, following a Ł4.5m transfer from Inter Milan.

Pre-season pitch time (in minutes):

Albert 90+45+90+90+0+71=386
Asprilla 0+0+0+90+72+1=163 (1 goal)
Barton 90+90+90+90+90+0=450
Batty 45+0+0+90+35+62=232
Beardsley 0+90+45+1+90+90=316 (2 goals)
Beresford 0+0+0+0+90+45=135
Crawford 0+45+0+0+65+28=138 (1 goal)
Elliott 0+0+0+0+0+19=19
Ferdinand 0+90+90+0+0+0=180
Gillespie 90+17+90+90+56+0=343 (1 goal)
Given 90+0+0+90+0+0=180
Hamilton 0+73+90+15+90+90=358
Hislop 0+0+90+0+0+90=180
Howey 71+45+0+0+90+0=206
Hughes 19+90+90+0+90+90=379
Ketsbaia 90+45+58+75+34+90=392
Lee 90+90+0+75+56+0=311
Pearce 0+0+90+90+0+90=270
Pinas 0+0+32+0+0+1=33
Pistone 0+0+0+0+0+45=45
Shearer 90+0+90+89+0+0=269 (1 goal)
Srnicek 0+90+0+0+90+0=180
Tomasson 90+90+45+90+18+0=333 (4 goals)
Watson 90+90+0+90+34+90=394 (1 goal)
(+1 og)

Waffle

Newcastle's penultimate pre-season fixture took them to the Division One Bantams as part of the deal that brought the midfield talents of Des Hamilton to the Magpies the previous March.

Disco Des led the visitors onto the pitch, or so he thought. However, as he strode forward the rest of the team stopped, leaving him to run out at Valley Parade alone.

Following the catastrophic weekend at Goodison that had seen United shorn of their two main strikers (Alan Shearer hospitalised and Les Ferdinand forcing through a transfer), United turned to Faustino Asprilla and Peter Beardsley - the latter having postponed a move to Bolton Wanderers.

They lined up in a 3-5-1-1 formation that included Temuri Ketsbaia, Jon Dahl Tomasson unable to continue his pre-season scoring streak after he was sidelined with a back problem.

A below-strength City side were simply never in it: Asprilla leading the line with an inspirational display that began with a shot blocked by home goalkeeper Mark Prudhoe. Moments later though, a neat turn bemused defender Andy O'Brien and the Colombian slipped the opener home.

Steve Watson then dispossessed O'Brien in a dangerous position and set up Asprilla for what most inside the stadium expected would be his second of the evening. However Tino contrived to find the crossbar with his shot, only for Beardsley to stroll forward and chip the rebound home.

Ketsbaia then missed the chance to add his name to the scoresheet before the hosts attempted to shore up their sagging defence by bringing on an extra defender. That failed to deter Asprilla though, who found space down the left before pinging over a perfectly-judged centre that Steve Watson forced home from close range.

Almost inevitably the onslaught slackened off after the interval and there was no further addition to the score, Hamilton almost rounding off a memorable return to his old club when played in on goal by Beardsley - only to then make a hash of his attempted shot.

Biffa

Page last updated 26 July, 2019