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Leeds United	3 - 4	Newcastle United
Half time:	1 - 1
Score Sheet:
Bowyer (39) Viduka (50) Harte (56)		Bellamy (38) Elliott (59) Shearer (71 pen) Solano (90)
	Teams
Martyn Kelly Ferdinand Mills Harte Bowyer Batty Johnson Kewell Viduka Fowler		Given Hughes O'Brien Dabizas Elliott Solano Dyer Speed Robert Shearer Bellamy
Substitutes:
Bakke for Kewell (46)		Distin for Dabizas (45) Bernard for Robert (78) LuaLua for Bellamy (90)
Subs not used:
Woodgate Keane Robinson Smith		Harper Acuna
Bookings:
Viduka (45) Kelly (59)		Elliott (53)
Sendings off:
None		None
Referee: Jeff Winter (Stockton).
Attendance: 40,287. Highest of the season.

Please note: Those lovely people at the FA sent us yet another snotty letter (we're building up a fair collection now) threatening us with legal proceedings for linking to MPEG clips of the goals. Unfortunately, we have had to remove the links but we spoke to the FA and they are happy for you to shut down your browser, open it again and type the address. (How ridiculous is that...?) 

We would like to fully acknowledge the part played by PremiumTV and/or Newcastle United Football Club in keeping the FA fully informed of possible copyright infringements on NUFC.com, our gratitude knows no bounds. However, can we respectfully suggest that their time would be better served by attending the craphole laughingly called the official site, rather than hounding us....

38 mins: One of the most excellently constructed toon goals in recent memory. Break from defence sees ball played out to Shearer on the right. Slide rule pass sees overlapping Dyer motor into the Leeds box from the right, pulling back a low cross to where the immaculately timed run has taken Bellamy into perfect position to sweep the ball high into the net. 1-0

(An MPEG clip of the goal may be available at this web address: http://macauslot.hkcix.com/video/1223/56k/1223_5.mpeg)

39 mins: With our lot still mentally hugging themselves, a quick counter-thrust into our centre sees Bowyer break free and latch on to a perfect through ball from Viduka with Dabizas caught on his heels. Low finish past Given in 1 on 1 leads to scorer confronting away fans in what has to be described as a provocative gesture. One or two of our number seek to discuss the matter further but stewards do their job and referee ushers the poor misunderstood spokesperson of a generation away to receive the love and affection of his colleagues. 1-1

(An MPEG clip of the goal may be available at this web address: http://macauslot.hkcix.com/video/1223/56k/1223_6.mpeg)

Half time: Leeds 1 Newcastle 1

50 mins: The hardest chance Viduka had all day and he showed his power and precision by cutting in from the left with his back to goal, leaving O'Brien in his wake and shooting home on the half turn. What a goal, what a tosser. 1-2

(An MPEG clip of the goal may be available at this web address: http://macauslot.hkcix.com/video/1223/56k/1223_7.mpeg)

56 mins: Confusion in our ranks as a miskick from Bowyer drops to Harte on the right-hand edge of the toon area. Bowyer shapes to go wide, diverting the attentions of Speed and Elliott and creating a hole for the defender to run into. Left foot shot home. 1-3

(An MPEG clip of the goal may be available at this web address: http://macauslot.hkcix.com/video/1223/56k/1223_8.mpeg)

59 mins: An astute ball played into the right side of the box saw Dyer with enough space to control, swivel and send in a deceptively powerful shot that Martyn parried. From somewhere Elliott appear to send in a diving header back across the keeper into the unguarded side of the goal. Game on. 2-3

(An MPEG clip of the goal may be available at this web address: http://macauslot.hkcix.com/video/1223/56k/1223_9.mpeg)

71 mins: Ball played in to the heart of the Leeds defence - Speed sidestep ends up with the hapless Bakke left holding ball, almost. Appeals from the adjacent toon players, absence of histrionics from home team. Shearer steps up and hammers it home to Martyn's right. 3-3

(An MPEG clip of the goal may be available at this web address: http://macauslot.hkcix.com/video/1223/56k/1223_10.mpeg)

90 mins: Just time for Dyer to play Solano in to the right side of the penalty area, and the lad to keep up his great scoring record against Leeds by leaving Harte and another defender in his wake before slotting the ball past the keeper into the opposite side of the goal. The scorer then stood in front of an adoring away section and managed to combine some shirt / badge kissing with a holy blessing. 4-3

(An MPEG clip of the goal may be available at this web address: http://macauslot.hkcix.com/video/1223/56k/1223_11.mpeg)

Full time: Leeds 3 Newcastle 4

Uncle Bobby said:  

"I still don't think we can do it.

"But the message is 'keep your trap shut, feet on the ground and beaver away and let's see what happens'.

"It takes a brilliant team to win the title, but we're only on the verge of becoming that.

"After that, we have had a lot of luck at the moment and whether that can remain with us until the end of the season I don't know.

"Manchester United are clearly back in form while tomorrow will be interesting with Arsenal at Liverpool and I still don't think Leeds are out of it despite this result.

"But to come from 3-1 to win 4-3 at Leeds, who are a potential championship-winning team, then this victory is right up there with the best of them during my time at the club."

On Viduka:

"Overall the referee gave a constant performance but I think he failed in not giving Viduka his marching orders.

"That was the one big mistake that he made because he's normally a referee that will deal with that type of thing and is not afraid to make those kind of decisions.

"But it was a red card, it was direct and it was violent, although he (Viduka) was lucky with the first challenge anyway on Dabizas.

"He broke his nose in that, but he only got one yellow card from two violent offences.

"But I'm not so bitter now because we have gone on and won the match."

"When he (Viduka) scored his goal I was thinking 'you should have been down here with me and not on the pitch'."

Dabizas himself said:

"I feared the worst. It was a very bad tackle. It was just above my knee even though I was playing the ball on the ground - he caught me with his studs a good 30 centimetres above the ground.

"There was this unbelievable pain which was so intense that I did not know what was going on. I thought it was my cruciate. If it had been inches lower, it could have been. It could have maybe shattered my leg to pieces.

"It is not a very good thing for one footballer to do to a fellow professional. We both want our teams to win but we should all protect each other from unnecessary challenges.

"He should have got a yellow card from our first clash. I have a broken nose from when he caught me with his elbow.

"Then this second one was a straight red, definitely. I was shocked because I won the ball cleanly and did not expect him to raise his foot because he had no chance of playing the ball."

David O'Blarney defended his forward:

"I cannot believe Bobby. He is still going on about it and I think he might still be going on about it on the coach home.

"He is out of order for what he has said. Mark is a footballing centre-forward and it was a stupid forward's challenge. I don't think he meant what happened.

"I have seen Bobby defend Alan Shearer for similar things over the last few seasons so I'm quite surprised with Bobby on this one.

"Good luck to him with the result, but has he harped on about it!"

Three consecutive games that we've turned round a deficit into a victory. This was the 8th time we've scored four goals this season and also the 8th time that we've scored 3 goals in one half this season (including the Worthington Cup Bellamy treble in one half of extra time against Brentford).

Now a fantastic 6 away wins and 2 draws in the Premiership from 10 attempts, which compares well to our recent  Premiership returns - our best haul already in five years:

1993/94: 31 points from 21 matches (9 wins, 4 draws, 8 defeats)
1994/95: 24 points from 21 matches (6 wins, 6 draws, 9 defeats)
1995/96: 26 points from 19 matches (7 wins, 5 draws, 7 defeats)
1996/97: 26 points from 19 matches (6 wins, 8 draws, 5 defeats)
1997/98: 15 points from 19 matches (3 wins, 6 draws, 10 defeats)
1998/99: 19 points from 19 matches (4 wins, 7 draws, 8 defeats)
1999/00: 17 points from 19 matches (4 wins, 5 draws, 10 defeats)
2000/01: 17 points from 19 matches (4 wins, 5 draws, 10 defeats)
2001/02: 20 points from 10 matches (6 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats)***

*** current season - in progress.

A quick reckoning up makes our Premiership away record:

P=166 W=49 D=48 L=69 

With away games at Man U, Leicester, Spurs, the mackems, Liverpool, Blackburn, Villa, Derby and Southampton still to come.

If you want the bigger picture through NUFC.com eyes, then turn back to the Arsenal report here for a vague attempt at locating our place in the World. There again, you may prefer to reflect on the musings of proper grown-up writers like Michael Walker in the Observer here, who seems almost to stand alone, in having no anti-toon axe to grind.

Right, you've had your chance...whatever appears in the hereafter is taken from the cranial box marked random - never was waffle more aptly titled than in the following memory download. They can't prosecute you for what you think....yet.

Friday: as ever 1,001 NUFC.com-related things to do - waddle off with yet another pile of t-shirts to the Post Office - colour drains from faces of counter staff now conversant with the daily requirements of this geordie madman and his bulging sack...of parcels. 

Emails continue to pile up in three main categories:
1. requests for Leeds tickets
2. entries for memorable goal competition
3. TV details for exiles and devotees from Hebburn to Helsinki and all points in between.

Saturday: a rare local game, meaning no daft early start to catch buses and trains for away matches, or the chance to shiver at pitchside with like-minded loons while cheering on the toon bairns. Comparative luxury therefore of a lie in, breakfast and one eye on Soccer AM while the other watches steadily falling snow with some trepidation. Smoggie match called off - assume due to lack of interest, or too much atmosphere.

Lift across to pre-match venue, where a cross-section of Mags of the Yorkshire, North West, London, Midlands and the home-grown variety are already taking advantage of favourable bar prices (22 bob for a pint of Tetley's). Positive talk verging on euphoria is the order of the day, as Highbury tales are recounted and embellished, and knee injuries (from falling over seats) are compared. Turf accountants appear to have taken a substantial loss as more and more "3-1" stories are conjured up, and one individual who took a "bag of sand" off the bookie gets the beers in, for those with good hearing.

Final confirmation of success today seems assured with confirmation that lucky woolly hat is safe in pocket, and the pre-selected horse Wahiba Sands romps home in the televised racing. What a pity nobody had backed it.

Walk to ground passes off safely, except for the reminder of what an urban wasteland looks like. Approaching the ground the cheers of the crowd inside can be heard - a guaranteed pulse-quickener. Inside, and the usual organised chaos in the away end, which is already engaged in serenading the innocent Leeds duo. Tunes of choice:

"Hey Lee Bowyer, I wanna know how you're not in gaol."
"Racist, racist Leeds, racist Leeds United."
"Guilty, and you know you are..." 

Random musings:

Some pretty stuff from Leeds in front of our area - Fowler lurking but not actually doing anything. Viduka puts two past the post when he really should have done much better. 

Continued good support from toon end, who threaten once or twice with that killer ingredient - pace. Robert drifting, but just once cuts loose and jinks round a couple of players, almost as if to just prove he can, if he so desires. A goal after a simply wonderful move sets our lot off again on the supporting (the taunting has never diminished), and people are still regaining their footing when Bowyer levels it.

As expected the goalscoring goader confronts the goadees, and the bulk of the referee not once but twice quite literally butts in to stop a "situation" developing. 

Viduka clearly elbows Dabizas, a fact uncle Jeff acknowledges by our free kick and his prolonged one-on-one with the "fat aussie bastard". At one stage Winter looks to be trying to teach Viduka to fly, such are his exaggerated wing, sorry arm movements. 

It's obvious now that the egotistical smoggie is trying to prove that he can officiate this category A prisoner of a match by the strength of his mind alone, and prove his superiority over lesser card wielding colleagues.

New song from our lot "There's only Michael Duberry." Woodgate warms up near toon fans to a tirade of unspecified abuse.

Enter Viduka again with a pre-meditated cynical kick borne of frustration at his inability to hit the target. Dabizas departs on a stretcher, Distin gets on but has barely time to touch the ball before the whistle. FAB Viduka gets a yellow, once again Jeff you are the weakest link....

Good news after half-time - Kewell doesn't reappear. Not done much but has destroyed us on this ground in the past. Both teams seem to have taken sedatives at half time as they stumble around in a formless mass. Viduka then jolts things into sharp focus with a conversion of his hardest chance to wake the home fans up. Our lot seem to still holding an inquest when Harte pops up after mis-hitting a ball and takes Elliott and Speed out of defence for another shot, and another goal.

Similar to the McCoist Rangers v toon game of a few years ago, the home fans find their voices in stand-moving fashion for a few moments, and the toon fans seem as stunned as their heroes. However, before further damage can be inflicted on us as we seem to linger near the ropes, we're off defending in the best way we know - their half of the field. Leeds fans now appear to have taken a vow of silence, save for the grumblings of discontent.

Elliott puts in the header for 2-3, suddenly we believe again and Leeds start to read the script from their last two home games - late capitulation is the name of the game. Dyer appears to have been fitted with new batteries as he storms forward. Speed continues to take up the slack in the centre circle, in a Robert Lee revivalist cameo. Solano continues to chase back in a style that was totally alien to him at the start of the season.

Handball given in front of toon fans, who seem to have collectively held their breath rather than bellowed their demands to Winter. The original golden bits bladders the thing in. Mayhem. People are leaving on three sides of the ground, people are in orbit on the fourth.

Presence of Fowler on pitch while toon away game is locked at 3-3 continues to unsettle -flashbacks of Anfield predominate.  Despite this, the only United looking like scoring is us with Bellamy seeing a goalbound one bounce away off the bonce of Bowyer. The less greedy of us mentally take a point, not wishing to bother the gods again given the late heroics at Highbury.

Certain Peruvian witchdoctors ignore this course of action, taking advantage of the fact that the home defence appears to be creaking open like a pair of saloon doors in the breeze. Trumpet player slips ball past a seemingly mesmerised Nigel Martyn to the incredulous jubilation of several thousand highly excited people. 

Nearly another one as Lua puts the hammer hard down and streaks towards goal, head down. After looking for a split second as if he was contemplating a lob over the half-advanced Martyn, he blasts it over the bar into the toon end. Banging his own thighs with his hands in disbelief is Dyer, who has run the length of the field in an extraordinary burst to get in position for a shot, only to be ignored. Had he got the ball and scored, quite what heights of ecstasy would have been reached behind the goal can barely be imagined.

Whistle blows after four minutes of extra time, with just enough time for a quick Shearer and the ball down by the corner flag cameo. Grown men and women embrace - some of whom know each other. Once again the downcast fans and players of the fashionable big team skulk off, while those on whom fortune has again shone exchange gestures of affection.  

Immediate post match thoughts amid a sea of disbelief are that the good will out and the dirty rotten cheating criminals don't always have to prosper. Especially corpulent Oceanic Croatians of dubious parentage, cocky cockney throwbacks, smoggy wasters of diminished responsibility, camera-hogging self-serving loose-tongued chairmen and blarney-encrusted irresponsible ghost writers from the emerald isle. 

O'Leary for Old Trafford is the clamour from the nation - appointing someone else to succeed Fergie could result in a measure of empathy and acceptance of Bobby Charlton's favourite team. The reputation built up over many years of wailing, whining tantrum-based smugness is safe in the hands of yer man. Jack Charlton was right, he is a dirtbag. 

Close your eyes and you can see him justifying the antics of his "young boy" (Roy) Keane for his latest misadventure involving a referee, the limb of an opposing defender and a mouth full of emerald isle insults. The feckers deserve each other.   

Out of ground - smiles replaced by downcast frowns, hands in pockets. Low-key walk back to town watching for bogeymen hiding in shadows. In-car jubilation at Radio 5 report. Much shushing as Wing Commander Robson speaks to the nation.

Several more chapters remain to be written about the events post-match, but you've had enough, leave it. It's not worth it.... 

Suffice to say that snow-covered taxi's, wild west scenes in a normally-quiet pub resulting in Newcastle and Leeds fans uniting to throw drunks face-down into snowdrifts and a rather good king prawn pathia all play their part. Best supporting roles also to 8 year old rum and "murder on the dancefloor" by Sophie Ellis thingy. You've been a lovely audience, this isn't for me, it's for everyone who worked on the production, I'm wiping the tears away but they're tears of joy. 

Love is a many-splendoured thing - two big away wins and top spot in the league is pretty bloody marvellous as well.

Biffa

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