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Date: Thursday 28th September 2000, 7pm Venue:   Ewood Park

Conditions:  
Sunny day, cool evening with surface moisture on pitch. 

Crowd:  Approx 500 

Referee:  L.Mason

Teams: 

BRFC: (normal home kit)  Bingham, McNamee, Murphy, Douglas, Howson, Broomes, Corbett (Danns 67 mins), Hawe (Forsyth 67 mins), Hamilton, Richards (Hardy 79 mins), O'Brien 
Subs: Renton, McCann. 
Booked:
Captain: Peter Murphy. 

NUFC: (normal home kit) Karelse, McGuffie, Ullathorne, Hamilton, Caldwell S (Beharall 62 mins), Caldwell G, Gavilan (Kerr 66 mins), McClen, Coppinger, Ameobi (Green 73 mins), Glass. 
Subs n/u: Boyd, Grindlay.
Booked: Gary Caldwell 7 mins, strong challenge on Gary Hamilton in the centre circle. Ryan McGuffie 46 mins, no more than a stiff tackle on O'Brien that ended in a yellow card after the referee was hit with the ball via a stray Rovers pass. Young Ryan appeared to have been caught chuckling by the ref and went into the book.... 
Captain: Steve Caldwell

NB: Karlese appeared in a red Blackburn goalkeeper's kit, presumably because the nitpicking ref decided his usual blue one clashed with part of the home side's strip.

6 mins. United tested the Rovers keeper for the first time, as a cross from the right by Ryan McGuffie was met by a rare Gavilan header, but the keeper easily collected. 
8 mins. Almost a great start for Tommy Craig's side, as an enormous clearance by Karelse was nodded down by Ameobi to Coppinger, who for once stayed onside. He advanced into the box with only the keeper to beat, but dragged his shot well wide from 15 yards.
15 mins. Newcastle had a let off when McGuffie lost out to Burton O'Brien on the left hand side of the United box. O'Brien found Gary Hamilton with a neat ball infield, but the Rovers forward lifted his shot well over the goal.
22 mins. More good work from Blackburn, as Gary Hamilton dummied to take the ball and span away from Gary Caldwell on the Rovers right. He advanced before crossing a ball which brother Steve missed, allowing it to fall to the lurking Richards. Fortunately his first touch was unsubtle enough to allow a grateful Karelse to claim.
25 mins. The visitors best move of the game saw Hamilton play the ball out from centre midfield to Gavilan on the right, who advanced before feeding McGuffie on the overlap. The young Scot hit a strong centre to the far post, where fellow countryman Glass arrived to catch the ball on the volley, but only succeed in launching it narrowly over the bar. 
27 mins. A break in play as Ameobi tumbled when attempting to nod on a Karelse clearance to Coppinger. He required treatment after getting tangled up with defender Broomes, but was eventually ok to continue.
32 mins. Menace from the home side again, as Hamilton again got the better of Gary Caldwell on the left, only to fire a low centre across the United six yard box that Corbett was too dozy to anticipate and advance into the area to meet. The danger was cleared by Ullathorne.
33 mins. Proof that this match wasn't going to go in our favour came when Gavilan carried the ball past two men and into the Rovers penalty area, before laying it off to Glass, who in turn found Ameobi only 10 yards out of goal on the left side of the box. Unfortunately his shot on goal travelled only a matter of inches and the smirking home defence managed to bring the ball away.
37 mins. A timely intervention from McGuffie, who blocked a shot from O'Brien just inside the United area, after Corbett had exploited the lack of marking by the Caldwell brothers.
43 mins. McGuffie again, but this time lucky not to go down as an "assist" for an opening goal for Rovers. A cross from the right was helpfully brought down by our right back for Gary Hamilton to toe poke a good opportunity wide of Karelse's goal.
43 mins. Bobby Robson now appeared next to Tommy Craig to berate his reserve side from the pitchside technical area. 

Halftime: BRFC 0 NUFC 0

49 mins.  A forward surge into the Rovers half by Gary Caldwell resulted in a sweeping pass out wide on the right to Gavilan. He left it for Glass to swing over a dangerous-looking ball that Ameobi could only weakly head towards the Blackburn keeper.
55 mins. More dubious defending by Newcastle, as Gary Caldwell swung his boot to clear his lines but put the ball straight at the feet of the advancing O'Brien. He burst into the left side of the United area and shot on goal, but found Karelse equal to the effort as he smothered the danger.
59 mins. Still reasonably even, as Des Hamilton intelligently found Gavilan in space on the right, and he dribbled inside a defender before nudging the ball sideways for Glass to try a first-time shot that was deflected for a corner.
60 mins. A moment of glory for the young fourth official, as the linesman patrolling the far side of Ewood Park had to leave the field clutching his thigh, to the good-natured ribbing of the crowd. He later appeared to oversee the substitutions with a large icepack strapped to his leg.  
64 mins. With his first touch, David Beharall gave the ball to Corbett on the halfway line as the United defence attempted to push up, and despite having two attackers alongside him pleading for a pass, Corbett elected to shoot himself and cracked his effort well wide.
69 mins. Newcastle's best effort of the second half was a shot from distance by Glass that dropped on to the roof of the Rovers net. The move had been initiated by an Ullathorne interception that allowed Gary Caldwell to push forward into central midfield and find Kerr, who in turn set up Glass on the left edge of the box.
74 mins. Blackburn were inches away from breaking the deadlock with an O'Brien curler that struck the crossbar, after a cross from the right by substitute Dann wasn't properly dealt with by Beharall.
79 mins. Man of the match for Rovers, number 9 Hamilton began another attack down the left after flicking a Murphy through ball into the path of Douglas. His shot was parried by an advancing Karelse, only for Richards to stab the rebound wide. This was his last act, as he was immediately subbed. 
82 mins. More movement from United now that Kerr and Green were both on the field, and after Gary Caldwell had again pushed into opposition territory and clipped a pass out wide on the left to Ullathorne, Glass found himself in space. His centre saw both Kerr and Green challenging the keeper in the air, but a well-timed punch saw the danger cleared.
83 mins. Neat interplay between McClen, Green and Coppinger led to Green testing 'keeper Bingham from distance with a low drive.
89 mins. More danger from Gary Hamilton, as he twisted and turned between McGuffie and Gary Caldwell to fire narrowly wide of the United goal into the side netting.   
93 mins.  Well into injury time, a needlessly conceded free kick in the Rovers half of the centre circle was twice taken from the wrong place, the referee wrongly allowing the second attempt. McNamee flighted the ball into the United area and confusion when it landed saw Danns pounce to blast the ball into the bottom left of the United net, past a despairing Karelse. 0-1
 
Final Score: BRFC 1 NUFC 0

Quotes:

Bobby Robson commented after the match:

"It was a game where we had a lot of youngsters on show and they are on a learning process. I've come a long way to see our kids play and I'm glad I did. 

Whether Blackburn deserved to win or not, I don't know. We had chances, they had chances and they won it because of a misjudgment in the box. So, we lost a game that we shouldn't have lost, but that's what happens when you make a mistake."

Waffle: 

Another disappointing performance for the so-far winless united reserves, as an equally young Blackburn side looked sharper and more inventive throughout, and had the advantage of playing with attackers in their team.

While Shola Ameobi earned justifiable praise for his senior debut efforts against Chelsea recently, tonight was another not untypical waste of a game for him, as he tried to get involved but just couldn't make his physical presence and ballplaying skills count for anything. Alongside him, Coppinger had a quiet game, improving only late on when he began to combine more effectively with the mobile midfield runs of Kerr and Green. To be fair to Ameobi, he isn't a centre forward in the Peter Withe mould, and needs support alongside him, which he's barely getting at present.

While Ameobi and Coppinger train with the senior squad during the week, and thus get the chance to observe Gallacher, Shearer & Co. at first hand, come nights like this they look short of a guiding influence on the field. In previous years, one or two more senior hands have been around to dispense advice and encouragement, notably John Barnes and Stuart Pearce, but at present the senior figures are Hamilton and Glass, neither of whom are sufficiently talented to be able look out for their younger colleagues as well as making their own contribution to the team.

At some stage Gallacher may return to the second-string and provide some assistance, but in the meantime the reserves seem to suffer from a lack of focus, the midfield lacking outlets in front of them and the defenders (such as McGuffie) sending over quality crosses from the flanks, only to see them swallowed up by defenders.

Another set of youngsters face United next, as the flowering youths of Leeds travel to Kingston Park on Monday, coached by our old boy Roy Aitken. His former Celtic colleague Tommy Craig needs to lift his boys and inspire them to a win, not only to improve their league position, but also to ensure the steady stream of improving youngsters continue to graduate into the first team.      

Biffa