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Date: Wed 17th January 2001, 7.45pm. Venue: Villa Park  Conditions: Frosty but dry and calm.

Aston Villa	1 - 0	Newcastle United
Half time:	0 - 0
Score Sheet:
(50) Vassell
	Teams
James Wright Southgate Alpay Staunton Hendrie Boateng Stone Merson Dublin Vassell		Harper Griffin Goma Hughes Marcelino Glass Acuna Bassedas Speed Gallacher Ameobi
Substitutes:
(46) Barry for Southgate  (78) Walker for Vassell		Barton for Speed (46) LuaLua for Glass (60) Cordone for Gallacher (70)
Subs not used:
Enckelman Samuel Ginola		Given Gavilan
Bookings:
		Bassedas (33)
Referee: Paul Durkin (Dorset).
Attendance: 25,387. Villa stayed at home and watched it on the telly. Only the Worthless Cup game against Manchester City has been lower this season. Fickle Brummies.

Half time: Aston Villa 0 Newcastle 0

50 mins. Gareth Barry and George Boateng combined to send Merson down the right and he swung over a cross that Warren Barton seemed likely to clear. However he missed his header and it bounced off his shoulder onto the thigh of the onrushing Darius Vassell. 

The ball looped over Steve Harper and into the far corner for the spawniest of goals - givan that Vassell hadn't scored for over two years though he wasn't bothered by that.  0-1

Full time: Aston Villa 1 Newcastle 0

Uncle Bobby said: 

"At the moment it’s tough. I have just got to keep my head and not get too down with things. The injuries will relent, and when they do we will start to win games like these." 

Count Duckula said: 

Steve Stone added:  

"We are thirteenth in the Premiership and have a couple of games in hand, but we know they don't matter because we aren't winning games and are starting to struggle. So it's massive for us to go through and we now have a home tie against Leicester.

"I think the goal came off Darius Vassell's knee. He didn't know anything about it but I'm pleased for the lad because he hasn't had many games this season after coming back from injury" 

The players that trooped dejectedly off the pitch, giving us a round of applause as they departed, were treated to a rousing chorus of "We love you Newcastle". 

This usually means one of two things: the lads have played a blinder and recorded a famous victory or the crowd have a played a blinder and the team have been outclassed. Unfortunately this was a classic case of the latter.

It's hard to fault many of them (except Cordone) because I think they gave everything, but it wasn't nearly good enough. Without the flashes of brilliance afforded by Solano and Dyer, we look a poor side that would struggle to beat any Premiership team. 

Take five or six top players out of any first XI and they would probably splutter but even so, this looked like a side playing out of its skin just to avoid humiliation. That, in anyone's book, is bad news. The day that we shrug our shoulders and reflect that a 0-1 defeat at Villa wasn't too bad, shows just how low our expectations have sunk.

The killer was that Villa were pretty poor too. Despite being given two thirds of the pitch to play in, they made heavy weather of creating and finishing chances that could have reflected the way they dominated proceedings. Whether their new Argentinean "shinner" (cf. Gregory) will help them or not is debatable (judging by the programme cover they were absolutely gagging for his signature).

As expected this was damage limitation from the off. Fair enough, we had personnel problems but Stephen Glass as defensive midfielder? The white flag was raised with the teamsheet.

Three across the middle was no surprise but the dropping of Barton to the bench was a little odd. Griffin took over on the right side leaving midfield looking thin. Speed, Acuna and Bassedas isn't everyone's ideal and with the ring-rusty Gallacher helping out Ameobi, progression was distinctly unlikely. 

Because of the lack of action on the pitch and responding to a few requests from foreign shores, here is a jaundiced view of the reprobates that represented us:

Harper - left exposed and bamboozled by the goal but otherwise a faultless display. The strong backing he received from the Toon fans behind him in the first half, gave him some much- needed confidence to improve his cross-gathering. Bobby wasn't best pleased with a spot of dribbling near the end but without doubt our man of the match.

Glass - playing left wingback gave Villa licence to break down the right at will. The lad has some ability e.g. Derby goal, cross for Shearer last year v Villa, Leicester goal, but he has little or no natural confidence. It hasn't deserted him - I don't think he ever had any. This is reciprocated by his teammates who obviously have little confidence in him.

Griffin - slipped in the warm-up and seemed to tweak his groin but played the 90 minutes and did OK.

Marcelino - scuffed a couple of clearances and looked over-casual at times but didn't do too badly. Put in some half-decent challenges.

Goma - a class act. Strong and quick, there's not much gets past him. Dublin got little change all night. Gave it away in defence when he played a sloppy pass out  but otherwise pretty solid.

Hughes - very dependable. Good positional sense and strong in the challenge when needed. Great clearance off the line to keep us in contention.

Bassedas - a ludicrous handball got him booked when he panicked after being woefully out of position. He took over the no.10 shirt from Maric and, for me, has taken up his mantle as a complete waste of space. I suppose he doesn't flinch all challenges but he is incredibly easily knocked off the ball. Rotten.

Acuna - you just known that when he hangs up his boots he will become Chile's very own Kenny Sansom - a hispanic tellytubbie. However, he has a certain tanacity and a decent level of skill - his Joe Cole impression looked good in the warmup. Had a poor game, though.

Speed - struggled to complete the first half but in a bit of form at the moment. His ankle injury will come as another big blow to Bobby.

Gallacher - tireless worker but short of the fitness and sharpness that cost him a goal. Faster reaction when he was through on James should have seen him score and you never know, we might have scraped through.

Ameobi - once more another good effort from the youngster. He's done himself and Bobby proud recently but still has a long way to go. Naivety can be an asset sometimes but in the long run it's a dangerous trait. Missed a good chance late on.

Barton - not having a good time at the moment. Lacking in confidence and prone to the odd howler. Always a tryer but whatever he had last year is disappearing rapidly.

Cordone - simply a disgrace to the shirt. Ketsbaia in a wig is an insult to Ketsy who at least he cared enough to kick lumps out of a hoarding. Deserved a good old Ketsy hoof for pulling out of a 50-50 challenge at the end.

LuaLua - typical display from him. Looked brilliant at times and caused Villa some late consternation but in the end ran up too many blind alleys. You get the feeling Bobby and the coaching staff sit him down and go through it all with him slowly and he nods. Then next time he does exactly the same thing....

So all in all what have we got? Well, in theory we should have a squad that is better than some and worse than others. Probably more talented than, say, Leicester but the sum of the constituent parts seems to be far greater than the whole - collectively it just doesn't seem to work. 

Bobby and Mick Wadsworth obviously agonise over their selections and their purchases but for some reason some severe misfiring is going on.

Anyway, the evening wasn't a total disaster. The Shola Ameobi - Hokey Kokey chant deserved to be picked up at greater volume. Paul Merson seemed to appreciate the "Who drank all the pints" chant - fair play to him as he took it all with good humour when Southgate was being attended to. 

The cat & mouse game played by some of our lot in front of the tunnel behind the goal. Kicking the metal wall as percussive accompaniment drove stewards and police barmy. Six or seven different approaches, varying from threats to reason, to jokes, all failed to halt the din. Great slapstick humour.  

Niall MacKenzie

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