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Newcastle United	4 - 1	Ipswich Town
Half time:	4 - 0
Score Sheet:
Robert (18) Ameobi (26) Shearer (37) Shearer (40)		D.Bent (77)
	Teams
Harper Elliott Hughes Dabizas Distin Solano Lee Robert  Speed Shearer Ameobi		Sereni Makin Clapham McGreal Wilnis Hreidarsson Holland Wright Miller Counago Armstrong
Substitutes:
O'Brien for Hughes (46) Acuna for Lee (71) LuaLua for Robert (79)		Gaardsoe for Miller (46) Naylor for Counago (46) Bent for Armstrong (71)
Subs not used:
Given Bassedas		Branigan Croft
Bookings:
n/a		Armstrong (41) Left his foot in on Harper,  causing a gash on the leg.
Sendings off:
n/a		n/a
Referee: Alan Wiley - Late replacement for the scheduled David Elleray. Had an uneventful game.
Attendance: 32,576. Not massive but almost double Arsenal's attendance and nearly four times the other all-Premiership game at the Reebok. We'll see if the Leeds v Chelsea beats it. United's attendances at St.James' Park for the season went through the half million barrier - 517,474 to be precise.

18 mins Although Bobby claimed this was a lofted ball forward, it was actually Solano who threaded it through left of centre to where a loosely-marked Robert was able to stride into the area and shoot home via the keeper from 10 yards. 1-0 

26 mins A second Worthington cup goal for Ameobi, as a slick exchange of passes cut Ipswich to ribbons down the right. This time it was Shearer out on the flank, receiving a ball from Solano and driving it across the box for Ameobi to joyfully knock home. 2-0 

37 mins One of the best crosses from a Newcastle player in living memory, as Solano sent over an arcing shimmering beauty of a ball from the right flank on to the far edge of the Leazes 6 yard box, to where the arriving Shearer was waiting to bang it home past a defenceless Sereni. 3-0 

40 mins This time it was Solano popping up with the ball inside the Ipswich box, and finding Shearer in the six yard box with a low hard ball. He duly swept it home for his 100th Newcastle goal, before turning to acknowledge the crowd at the Leazes end in familiar style. Robert was standing behind him ready to turn the ball in and looked less than enchanted with Shearer getting there first. 4-0

Half time: Newcastle 4 Ipswich 0

77 mins Holland found himself with the ball at his feet in midfield and young Bent scampering away with Distin the wrong side of him. A slide-rule pass found Bent and he shot home low into the bottom left corner of Harper's goal from the right hand edge of the area. Dabizas and Harper both seemed to hesitate, possibly expecting the offside to be given that Distin raised his arm for, but were punished by Bent.  4-1

Full time: Newcastle 4 Ipswich 1

Uncle Bobby said of his 100-goal man: 

"I didn't know Alan before I came here; I knew of him but I hadn't worked with him.

"But I'd heard from Terry Venables and Don Howe that he was an inspirational figure on and off the pitch and that he was a terrific lad. That's why I couldn't understand why, when I came here, he wasn't getting along with the people who were at the club at the time. My first duty was to get the captain back on board. It was crucial to the salvation of the club."

"I think he'll play three more years; that's what he's got to concentrate on. I keep reading stories about him going into management. He just needs to stick to playing, give us another three years of what he can do and enjoy that.

"Let Alan Shearer finish off a brilliant career."

About the game and any sympathy he may have had for his former club: 

"George Burley would have had no sympathy for me if he'd won 4-1. I'm just delighted for my team. We had an exceptionally good night.

"Ipswich weren't good enough to beat us. They were up against a different team to Middlesbrough where they got a 0-0 draw on Sunday.

"We only saw one result tonight. We were very determined to finish it in 90 minutes.

"We thought we might catch Ipswich a bit tired and maybe they have other fish to fry. They have Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup next week and we don't.

"But we hit them with brisk early tackling, good interceptions, and good pressing when they had it. I think we were a joy for our supporters to watch.

"Our second goal was all about good first time passing, almost a walk-in goal, and the third was majestic - a classical goal if you like.

"Get the ball across the face of the goal and you know what Alan Shearer is going to do. He'll finish, no question. Nobby Solano and Laurent Robert are capable of doing that whereas last season we didn't have the same service from the flanks."

"That was critical for us because this is our shortest route into Europe.  We have a real chance of glory now and some silverware. This competition is important to us if not to some people."

Centurion Shearer commented:

It's absolutely fantastic to reach this milestone, there's only a few players who've done it - considering the injuries I've had, not only at Newcastle but at Blackburn as well, I'm delighted with the record.

"Jackie Milburn scored over 200 so I can scratch that, I don't think I'll catch him though hopefully there's a few more. I'm feeling good and sharp and there's no pain in my knee. I'm looking forward to every game.

"I was just pleased to do it here in front of the Newcastle fans - I did it at St James's Park for the Geordie public."

"We're in the quarter-finals of the Worthington Cup with the chance of winning some silverware, though there are a few times in my five or six years here that I've said that!

"I came up here for silverware, I don't regret coming here. I came here to win something, that's my dream and I've still got a chance to do that.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully we'll get a decent draw in the quarter-finals and take another step towards the final.

"I'm sure once we get a trophy then we can build on that and perhaps get another one. It's a great way to get into Europe by winning the competition. It's still early in the season but I'm very pleased with the start.

"We're fourth in the league and in the quarter-finals of the Worthington Cup - things are looking good."

"The first goal was the best (v Wimbledon), it was always my dream to play at St James's Park so to score a long range free-kick on my debut was special. There's also the one against Aston Villa a couple of games back."

George Burley said:

""This may be a blessing in disguise for us. We have had a hectic schedule and there was always a danger that it would take its toll".

"We knew that it would be tough but we made it worse for ourselves.

"We lost possession for their opening two goals and overall our defending was very poor.

"The match was lost in a 20 minute spell in the first half, and we had to tighten up for the second period.

"We were not helped by having to make enforced changes to the back four following two clean sheets in our previous matches.

"It is very disappointing and naturally we did not want to lose, but Newcastle have world class strikers and they took their opportunities well with good finishing".

"I am pleased for young Darren Bent who scored his first goal for the Club and he took it very well and proved that he can find the net in the best company".

100 toon goals in all competitions for Alan Shearer, in case you hadn't noticed ...beginning with a home debut blaster of a free kick at the Leazes on a sunny night in August 1996 and culminating in a typical close-range finish at the same end some five years and three months later.

Only our 5th ever quarter final in the 41 years of this competition, the others being:

1974-75 Chester (h) 0-0, lost 0-1 in replay
1975-76 Notts County (h) won 1-0
1995-96 Arsenal (a) lost 0-2
1997-98 Liverpool (h) lost 0-2
2001-02 ?

No Newcastle player has ever scored in the Quarter Final of this competition - the 1-0 victory over Notts County was achieved via an og from Eric McManus in goal for the other Magpies.

The two goals moved Shearer up in the all-time League Cup toon goalscorers list to 4th.

A slightly abbreviated waffle for this game (hurrah I hear you cry) but wasn't it nice to see both Solano and Robert appearing in dangerous positions, the Frenchman grabbing a goal and the Peruvian being a provider with some scintillating crosses. Compare and contrast with their fitful contributions against Fulham and Derby.

With flank service restored (at least for one night), and a pliable opposition to say the least, it was no surprise to see Alan Shearer back on the scoresheet with strikes from open play, as he proved he can still be an efficient dispatcher of quality passes.

For Shola Ameobi there was also a rare start, partly due to the absence of Bellamy through flu and partly perhaps due to his new shaven bonce, which may be an attempt to pass himself off as Trevor Sinclair and fool Bobby into believing he's just signed for us.

The lack of any cover at left back meant that Elliott continued in that position, although he must be severely under threat from the now-available Bernard (even though he's more of a midfielder) once the league programme resumes. On the opposite flank we had an Irish double-up, with Hughes being replaced at the interval by Andy O'Brien from the republic of Harrogate. It was later revealed that Aaron had succumbed to the same flu bug that prevented ex-Canary Bellamy from facing his former East Anglian rivals.

Significantly, despite being named in an 18 man squad, there wasn't even a place on the bench for the only other available orthodox full back - Warren Barton. At present there looks no immediate way back for him, and as he doesn't feature in reserve games and has lost his place in the "Worthington side", he's unlikely to push for a recall by playing himself into form.

So, a competent enough victory, after awful early exchanges that conjured up nightmares of extra time and penalties being required to separate the two sides. The visitors were probably just as content with the outcome as we were, given that they have the twin distractions of an upcoming UEFA Cup jaunt to Inter Milan and a relegation fight on their hands. A number of Town players were also missing through injury and being cup-tied, giving their lineup a thrown-together look that their inability to mark up properly confirmed.

Having said that, our goals were well-taken and executed (although Robert had a wee bit of good fortune after appearing to hesitate before shooting in off the keeper) and the tempo was good in the lively last 30 minutes of the first half as strode forward at the every opportunity and took advantage of the space in midfield. 

As for the second half, it was rendered a non-event by the scoreline, and the occasional attempt at singing from the 32,000 toon fans present was some way short of being enough to inspire the home side on to further dazzling goalscoring feats.

Distin showed some good touches throughout and one or two timely interceptions, but was partly at fault when hesitancy between him, Dabizas and Harper allowed Bent to score his first senior Ipswich goal. It's difficult to judge the value of the on-loan Frenchman in games such as this one and the Barnsley victory when the opposing forwards are less than wonderful. However he seems competent enough, with a vital turn of pace to get him out of any self-inflicted tight spots.

We now await the draw to see where our cup run takes us next, and a home tie will surely attract more folks out than this game. The increased financial burden of watching Premiership football precludes many folks from attending as much as they'd like, but those who opted out of this one missed a small piece of history being made by our number 9.

It's also pertinent to point out that should we win our way through to the final in Cardiff next February, thousands of season ticket holders will expect the club to furnish them with tickets to see the game - whether they were at this and the Brentford game or not. Before the likes of Mrs Jimmy no-mates from Seghill start writing to the Sunday Sun about her hubby never missing a game since the Boer War but not getting a ticket, they'd do well to recall that staying at home and watching it on the telly doesn't count when the loyalty points are totted up. 

Not a criticism of non-attenders, just an observation before the bunfight that will undoubtedly ensue should we get through three more games unscathed.  

Biffa

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