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Aston Villa (h) Premier Reserve League North
| |
Date: Tuesday
3rd May 2005, 7pm Venue: Kingston
Park |
|
Newcastle United |
2 - 5 | Aston Villa |
| Half time: | 1 - 5 | |
 |
||
| Score Sheet: | ||
Finnigan (26)
Finnigan (89) |
Whittingham (3)
Moore (7) Gardner (15) Agbonlahor (17) Moore pen (35) |
|
| Teams | ||
|
Smith Cavener Cave Atkin Edgar Farman Baxter Smylie Walton Finnigan Terrell |
Olejnik Ward Green O'Halloran Drobny Whittingham Paul Gardner Moore Agbonlahor Foley |
|
| Substitutes: | ||
|
Carroll for Walton
(62) Marshall for Terrell (69) |
Kabeya for Paul (54) Bridges for Foley (68) |
|
|
||
| Subs not used: | ||
|
Deverdics Forster Doninger |
Henderson Osbourne Williams |
|
| Bookings: | ||
| Walton | None | |
| Dismissals: | ||
| None | None | |
|
||
| Referee: tbc | ||
|
||
| Attendance: Crowd: officially 211, including Souness, Murray, McDermott, Saunders, Wharton, Beardsley and Carver. | ||
Goals |
3 mins Whittingham
shot 0-1
7 mins Moore shot 0-2
15mins Gardner shot 0-3
17 mins Agbonlahor shot 0-4
26 mins Finningan header 1-4
35 mins Moore penalty 1-5
Half time: Newcastle 1 Villa 5
89 mins Finnnigan 2-5
Full time: Newcastle 2 Villa 5
We Said |
Tommy Craig spoke to the Chronicle and said:
"I spoke with the academy coaches yesterday morning and we were very mindful of the fact that there's an important game on Saturday.
"In an ideal world the team would have been different. But such is the need for the first team to back up their squad with reserve team players we had to field this line-up.
"But it might be the kick up the backside they need going into Saturday's game. Quite a lot are already looking forward to reserve games next season, and if they can take that second half performance into Saturday it might be enough."
Waffle |
The Magpies ended their season fielding one of the most inexperienced sides in memory and were punished by an Aston Villa side hungry for goals to confirm their status as league runners up to Manchester United.
In front of a tiny Kingston Park crowd that looked little larger than last week's figure of 89 for the afternoon kick-off against Wolves, Newcastle found themselves four goals behind without having set foot in Villa's penalty area.
An exchange of passes between Luke Moore and Gabriel Agbonlahor on the edge of our box allowed Peter Whittingham to net from close range after just three minutes.
Agbonlahor then crossed from the left on seven minutes only for Toon 'keeper Ben Smith to drop the ball in front of Moore, giving the striker a chance he couldn't miss.
Further disaster befell us on 15 minutes, as Craig Gardner advanced to the edge of our box without being challenged and shot home number three.
And Smith's personal nightmare continued barely 90 seconds later, as he dived at the feet of Agbonlahor but couldn't hold his shot, the Villa man slotting the loose ball into the empty net.
A rare foray upfield from the home side brought reward on 26 minutes, as Phil Cave released Michael Terrell down the left and Carl Finnigan was well placed to head his centre past Robert Olejnik.
Villa continued to threaten and Smith made a good stop with his feet before Atkin cleared off the United goal line, as further goals looked inevitable.
A fifth duly arrived on 35 minutes, with Moore brought down by Atkin in the area and getting up to score the resultant penalty - a rerun of the events in the corresponding game at Villa Park in October, a game we lost 0-3.
The visitors thought they'd made it half a dozen before the break, but referee Tilling correctly ruled that Stephen Foley had used his hand in controlling the ball before knocking it home.
After the thrills and spills of the first period, the second half began in a low-key style with Villa not in quite the same deadly mood.
They came close to a sixth on the hour when David Edgar cleared his own lines via the frame of the United goal and with 15 minutes remaining a shot from Villa's Craig Gardner rebounded off almost the same spot on the crossbar.
A more spirited United performance kept the score down, Ben Smith bringing off a noteworthy tip over to deny substitute Scott Bridges a goal on 84 minutes.
And Newcastle were to have the last word on 89 minutes, as substitute Scott Marshall's centre from the left was met with a firm header by replacement striker Andrew Carroll.
From almost the same spot as he was denied a debut reserve goal last week against Wolves for offside, this time Carroll's effort beat the 'keeper but struck the goalpost, rebounding for Finnigan to grab his and our second goal of the game.
However an improved showing after the break cannot mask the display in the opening 45 minutes, when our weaknesses were ruthlessly exposed by more experienced, better organised and well drilled opponents.
Quite simply this was a case of young men against boys, with every member of Newcastle's squad tonight eligible to play in our academy side.
It's to be hoped that this harsh lesson doesn't deflate us in advance of Saturday's U18 semi-final against Coventry.
But looking back over the season as a whole, high spots have been few and far between, with the problems at first team level resulting in an over-reliance on academy players and schoolboys.
Plus points have been the graduation of defender Peter Ramage to the first team and the emergence of Paul Huntington from the academy side into a reserve regular and England youth international.
And the disruption to our pre-season and early fixtures due to the conjunctivitis outbreak seems also to have taken its toll - one friendly against West Allotment between late July and our delayed season opener in September hardly being ideal preparation.
However up front, the fact that Guy Bates finished as top scorer with four goals, despite playing his last game in January tells its own story.
In the words of Captain Sensible and on behalf of the dwindling band of diehards at Kingston Park, "we're glad it's all over."
PS - we originally
named our number 16 as Dean Critchlow, but it was later confirmed as being Scott
Marshall. The official teamsheet didn't go up to 16....
Tommy
denies toon exit talk
Speaking
to NUFC.com after Tuesday's match, coach Tommy Craig expressed his
surprise over the story we covered about this game being his last in charge of
the reserve side.
Craig confirmed to us that he had no plans to step down from his position or end
his association with United.
We're happy to set the record straight and wish him well for next season, when
we'll once again be shivering in the back of the stand watching and reporting on
the fortunes of our reserve side.
Biffa