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Date: Sunday 7th January 2001 4pm. Venue: St.James' Park  Conditions: Started dry but drizzled during the second half.

Newcastle United	1 - 1	Aston Villa
Half time:	0 - 0
Score Sheet:
Solano (80)		Stone (55)
Teams:
Harper Barton Goma Hughes Griffin Acuna Bassedas Speed Solano Dyer Ameobi		James Wright Barry Staunton Southgate Samuel Stone Ginola Boateng Merson Dublin
Substitutes:
(29) Cordone for Speed (66) Glass for Barton(66) LuaLua for Ameobi Marcelino Given		Vassell for Ginola (76) Enckelman Melaugh McGrath Hitzlsperger
Bookings:
Griffin		Wright (43)
Referee: Paul Durkin (Dorset) A reasonable match for the diminutive Durkin, compared to the atrocities we've suffered in recent weeks.
Attendance: 37,862. Second lowest home attendance of the season, 588 more than saw the Leyton Orient League cup tie. Our highest home FA Cup attendance for 24 years (Man City 29.1.77), but this figure was exceeded for the Blyth v Wrexham game at SJP in 1978 (42,157.)  Total attendances for games at St.James' this season so far, 683,694 - an average of 48,835.

Goals:

Half time: Newcastle 0 Aston Villa 0

55 mins. David Ginola back-heeled to Gareth Barry who floated a perfect cross for Geordie boy Steve Stone to volley past a helpless Harper into the Gallowgate goal.

There was a slight question mark over Warren Barton for allowing Stone in ahead of him.  0-1

80 mins. Nolberto Solano played a free-kick short to Stephen Glass who floated an angled ball into the box. A Villa header was only cleared to the edge of the box, from where Solano crashed a low drive into the bottom right corner as David James scrambled across vainly. 1-1

Full time: Newcastle 1 Aston Villa 1

We said:  

The Prince of Darkness said this: 

"I said when the ball dropped out of the sky and it was going to Solano, `anyone but him' because he's got a clean touch and I expected it at least to have hit the target.

"But he can't play in the replay isn't that wonderful, and Dyer is missing as well.

"It's always difficult coming here. Newcastle have had a fantastic home record and taken quite a few very good scalps this year.

"I saw them beat Liverpool a few weeks ago, and they beat Leeds the week before last, and their home record has been very good this year.

"They haven't done as well on their travels and we hope that continues.

"My big players played well. The big ones with big responsibility Gareth Southgate, David James, Paul Merson, Dion Dublin and Steve Stone they really led by example, and I think they were outstanding in everything they did."

Reflecting on David Ginola's performance, Gregory added: 

"I was pleased with him in the second half.

"The reason I took him off in the end was that he worked so hard for the first 20 minutes of the second-half, I really thought there wasn't a lot left in the tank.

"He's in the side on merit, but what drives me mad is when he sits on the floor for five minutes trying to get a free-kick. The referee is never going to change his mind.

"But he's coming on and he's doing all right."

Waffle: 

Eyebrows were raised when this game was selected by ITV for transmission, but as it turned out their choice was entirely appropriate for a Sunday afternoon television audience. Appropriate that is for background viewing while sleeping off a lunchtime session or over indulgence of yorkshire puds 'n' spuds.

How the assembled TV "experts" managed to find anything in this forgettable encounter to enthuse over is unclear; there again Terry Venables always had his favourite subject to fall back on though, namely himself. 

The reduced crowd of 37,000 may have had something to do with it, or the drab and damp weather conditions, but for whatever reason this was a yawn of a game raised to false heights by the two unexpected goals scored.

Only the drunk or optimistic would have bet against a 0-0 draw once half time had been reached with only one save made by either keeper (an early leap from Harper to deny Dublin,) and Stone's opening goal looked to be decisive.

All attempts at support from the home areas also failed, and the less than full allocation of Villa fans were able to make themselves heard on regular occasions (their wittiest ditty being - "should we sing a song for you?").

When previous games had seen on-pitch incidents a-plenty to stoke up the crowd and inflame the passions, all this game produced was that old-favourite of booing a former hero, in this case David Ginola.

Andy Griffin can once again reflect on another successful afternoon of frustrating the preening Frenchman, mixing up tight marking with the odd physical challenge, including one swipe for which he deservedly received a yellow card.

As often seems to be the case against Newcastle, Ginola lost sight of what he was actually out on the field to do, and after a couple of theatrical tumbles failed to produce free kicks, resorted to his familiar routine of shrugs and sulking. He did manage to play a part in the build up to Stone's goal, but saved his party trick until substituted.

A matter of inches from the touchline, David's reaction to seeing his number come up was to leave the field after theatrically applauding all four corners of the ground, who responded with a few heartfelt gestures of their own.

Newcastle had been weakened on the half hour by the withdrawal of an obviously knackered Gary Speed, replaced by the man who we now believe to really be "Ketsbaia in a wig" - Cordone.

His appearance and the slightly deeper role Dyer then assumed, saw us diminish as an attacking force still further, and the unreliable James looked like having one of his quieter afternoons.

Ameobi did make one eye-catching break down the left wing in the second half before placing his shot on to the post, but by then Newcastle were one behind, and looking as if their FA run was about to be curtailed.

Robson brought on the second and third parts of his replacement front force when Lua Lua and Glass entered the fray, but their contributions didn't make a great difference to the unimaginative offensives United were mounting.

Referee Durkin had a reasonable and unobtrusive game, but justified penalty shouts from player and crowd greeted what looked like hands by Samuel in close proximity to Clarence Acuna.

The pressure finally started to mount along with the atmosphere as the match entered the last 10 minutes, and just as he had done at Villa Park in the recent league game, Solano was the saviour - his first FA Cup goal on his 11th outing in the competition. The tempo thereafter increased greatly, but the winning goal never really looked as if it would arrive. 

Given our recent FA Cup record, forcing a draw in this game without really looking the part may well be the precursor to another Cup run, but we really will have our work cut out to take our place in the fourth round by winning in the Midlands. Solano and Dyer will be missing through suspension, and although Lee and Gallacher should be available again after injury, the spark and invention of our two men in form will be greatly missed. 

Precisely who will score the goals is also a moot point.....

PS: Possibly the busiest employees within SJP were the L7 stewards with the travelling supporters. Not commonly known for being troublesome, a vocal and active Villa minority spent the afternoon generally trying to provoke bother between themselves, home fans, police and stewards and even other travelling fans.

Around 20 ejections were made, including one "gentleman" who was already banned from every ground in their country for previous misdemeanours. A youngster was also struck by a missile, as the more loutish elements of the Villa support attempted to stir things up.

Precisely what got the Villans so wound up isn't known, but it surely couldn't have been the events on the field.     

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