Newcastle United Football Club - Match reports

Season 1999-00
Vfl Bochum (Germany) (a) Friendly

Date: Saturday 31st July 1999, 5.30pm BST.

Venue: Ruhr Stadion, Bochum.

Conditions: By jingo it was warm; good job they didn't start at 3pm.

Admission: 10Dm (about £3)

Programme: None

Vfl Bochum		Newcastle
	3 - 2
Half time:	1 - 1

Score Sheet:
Balusynski (41) Balusynski (63) Schreiber (67)		Shearer (38) Shearer (56)

	Teams
van Duijnhoven Boy Reis Ristau Sundermann Rietpietsch Lust Bastürk Buckley Baluszynski Müller		Harper Charvet Marcelino Goma Domi Solano Ketsbaia Serrant Shearer Robinson Speed

Substitutes:
(59) Olaf Schreiber for Müller (59) Viorel Ion for Buckley (80) Seb Schindzielorz for Bastürk (87) Jan Majewski for Baluszynski		Hughes for Charvet (46) Maric for Robinson (55)

Subs not used:
None (tbc)		Perez Barton Kerr Coppinger McClen

Bookings:
None		Charvet Speed
Dismissals:
None		None

Referee: (Schiedrichter): Markus Weber

Attendance: (Zuschauer): 11,644 including around 350 away supporters in both seated sections (behind one goal) and a standing terrace (in one corner). The usual Bundesliga combinations of perimeter fencing and netting at either end were in evidence, as was an ultra-relaxed stewarding style. To herald the arrival of the teams, from somewhere the hosts had dredged up a record apparently titled "We're the most United team in all the land" that even Barry in the Box would have hesitated over before slapping on the Gallowgate gramophone. After this atrocity it was no surprise that a home team goal was greeted with a burst of the "Can Can" and the second half appearance of Newcastle was heralded by "Go West" in German… Originally opened in 1911 as Sportplatz an der Castroper Straße, the Ruhr Stadion was remodelled in the late 1970s and completed in 1979.

Goals

38 mins: After pressure from Paul Robinson, the ball ran free on the edge of the Bochum area, and a snap shot from Alan Shearer took a slight deflection off Thomas Reis as it ran into the net. 1-0.

41 mins: The United defence stood and watched as Bochum bore down on goal and Polish striker Henryk Balusynski beat the keeper with a shot on the angle from 15 yards. 1-1

Half time: Bochum 1 Newcastle 1

56 mins: Good link-up play between Carl Serrant and Silvio Maric down the United right ended with a perfect cross from the byline by Nolberto Solano for Alan Shearer to head in from 10 yards. 2-1

63 mins: The dangerous Balusynski was again allowed time and space by United to stride through the defence, pick his spot and fire past Harper. 2-2

67 mins: A rare goal from the former Carl Ziess Jena player Olaf Schreiber. A short free kick was played across the edge of the box and a weak shot from the Bochum substitute was inexplicably allowed to pass through the goalkeeper's legs. 2-3

Full time: Bochum 3 Newcastle 2

We Said

Ruud Gullit said:

To follow

They Said

Ernst Middendorp:

To follow

Stats

Pre-season pitch time (in minutes):

Charvet 90+45+90+45+90+90+90+0+45=585
Goma 90+45+90+90+90+0+90+0+90=585
Serrant 90+45+45+0+69+90+64+90+90=583
Ketsbaia 0+90+90+90+90+0+90+0+90=540
Speed 0+45+90+90+90+45+90+0+90=540
Perez 57+90+90+90+90+90+90+0+0=507
Maric 0+76+0+90+90+90+26+90+35=497
Barton 90+45+45+90+45+90+0+90+0=495 (1 goal)
Domi 0+0+90+90+90+0+90+0+90=450
Dumas 90+45+90+90+0+0+89+45+0=449 (1 goal)
McClen 90+45+90+41+45+0+26+90+0=427 (2 goals)
Marcelino 0+90+0+45+0+0+90+62+90=377
Hughes 0+45+0+0+65+90+1+90+45=336
Kerr 53+21+45+0+69+90+90+45=323
Shearer 0+76+0+0+0+0+61+90+90=317 (3 goals)
Coppinger 90+14+0+49+0+90+0+0+0=243 (3 goals)
Robinson 0+0+0+0+21+90+29+28+55=223 (3 goals)
Solano 0+0+0+0+0+0+64+62+90=216
Dyer=0+69+45+90+0+0+0+0+0=205 (1 goal)
Ziegler 0+0+0+0+0+0+90+90+90=180
Beharall 0+45+45+0+21+45+0+28+0=139
Andersson 37+0+90+0+0+0+0+0+0=127 (1 goal)
Griffin 90+0+30+0+0+0+0+0+0=120
Gullit 0+0+0+0+0+45+0+52+0=97
Glass 90+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0=90
Harper 0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+90=90
Hamilton 0+0+0+0+0+45+0+38+0=83
Dabizas 0+45+0+0+25+0+0+0+0=70
Lemmens 33+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0=33
Caldwell 0+14+45+0+0+0+0+0+=14

Rob Lee, Duncan Ferguson, Shay Given, Steve Howey and Alessandro Pistone all failed to appear in any senior team pre-season fixtures.

Waffle

And so the marathon Euro-jaunt that had encompassed Holland, England and Scotland moved on to its final destination, Germany, and an appointment with a recently relegated Bundesliga side.

An early arrival at the Ruhr stadion following a short train ride from Dusseldorf revealed that the Bochum "fan day" was in full swing - a diverse collection of activities, demonstrations, and stalls selling the inevitable pils (in what seemed to be hospital sample jugs) and evil-smelling sausages.

The searing heat meant that a few beers in a shady spot were called for, which afforded a vantage point from which to observe demonstrations of ballroom dancing, kick boxing, gridiron, and karate woodchoppers to name but a few - not quite the view from "The Trent House"….

Elsewhere, the youth of Bochum were busy with go-karts, rollerskating, limbo dancing and bouncy castles, while one English visitor seized upon the chance afforded him by the PA announcer to denounce the Dalgish era from the main stage, to the applause of the early arrivals from Tyneside and other parts of Europe.

Somewhere in all this merriment, a football match was scheduled to break out, but thankfully the heat of the afternoon had abated by the time kickoff arrived. The manager says he can't play his full team so presumably that excuses those playing from looking like they've ever met before…..

There were some positives to be had: Nolberto Solano getting to the byline and crossing for the first time in a year, Alan Shearer bagging a brace from open play for the first time since we went decimal and Steve Harper getting some much-needed pitch time to acquaint himself with the new defence.

At the end of nine games though it's uncertain what has been achieved, aside from pushing the players with both matches and tough training sessions -which may well have some future benefit, but on a short-term basis has done little to empty the treatment room.

As had been the case in Helmond, United received poor treatment from the match officials (who looked to be wearing Middlesbrough strips). Both Laurent Charvet and Gary Speed were cautioned, while severe challenges from the home team on Nolberto Solano especially went un-remarked.

Today's Maric Miss was a sort of reverse Jimmy Montgomery thing, where he screwed two chances up within seconds, being pushed off the ball when poised to shoot at a gaping net before somehow volleying skywards when a simple header would surely have beaten the keeper.

At the end of the game, a number of the players took time to applaud the travellers, while others just headed straight down the tunnel. The Bochum players by contrast performed a little lap of honour wearing their freshly-swapped Newcastle shirts.

It's always hard to take a match seriously when a gigantic inflatable coke bottle looms over the pitch, but a couple of United fans were sufficiently discontented/inebriated to scale the security fence and show their displeasure at the performance by mooning at the crowd.

Without wishing to condone such a gratuitous display of white Geordie arse, I have to say I knew what they meant.

After an incredible nine pre-season fixtures on the road though, there's a certain relief that this phony war (and associated punishment of wallet and liver) is finally at an end - at least until the back-to-back treks to Tottenham and Southampton next month see the mileage mount again.

PS: "Danke schoen" to Ray McDermott and his smashing family for their wonderful hospitality, Jurgen the baker, and the Rudi lookalike who kept us furnished with beer outside the stadium.

Biffa

Page last updated 19 November, 2019