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Newcastle v Hull Match Report

10 years ago
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Newcastle v Hull Match Report

Newcastle 2 Hull 2 Saturday 20 September 3pm

I don’t think anyone can complain about that performance.

We were the best team in the first half, with much more possession and Hull offering absolutely nothing at all.  I’m sure I saw Krul having a pint and a sandwich in one of the boxes during that period…

Tiote was everywhere, using pace, strength and nous to win, shield and distribute the ball.  I thought he played well alongside Colback, who had a decent game apart from two mistakes, one which, unfortunately, led to the first goal, a fantastic strike by Jelavic just as the second half got under way. Krul had no chance.

The possession and decent play, with much better performances from our defensive centre halves, all came to very little though.  The final ball in the last third just wasn’t good enough and Riviere struggled to command the ball, didn’t do much with it when he did get it, was bossed by the Hull defenders and his shots were weak.  He very nearly got into a good position second half, but the ball was just too far ahead of him, with Cabella unable to do much with the loose ball.

I felt he (Cabella) was disappointing again…with a certain Ben Arfa watching from stands. Cabella doesn’t have the ability to glide past defenders and get away a telling shot or pass, the way Hatem can.  He seemed to get pushed off the ball very easily again and lost possession a number of times, allowing Hull to counter attack, which was Bruce’s plan for the day.

That plan seemed to be working and the Wallsend lad was probably ordering the icing on his ample sized cake when Diame scored out of nothing.  Again, Tim Krul had absolutely no chance with the shot and the only criticism was that he maybe should have been closed down before getting a shot away.  Pardew looked as sick as a green chip, chucked in the bin and deemed not good enough to eat.  We didn’t deserve to be behind, but Hull had scored two great goals.  He still urged the players forward, but it seemed as if we had no way of getting a goal from anywhere.  Pardew then brought on Papiss Demba Cisse for Riviere with 22 minutes left on the clock.

Cisse immediately started chasing for the ball, won a long ball played forward and held it up well, bringing the midfield into play.  That was something that Riviere had failed to do all game and for me, hadn’t been good enough to do in the previous four games either.  Then, out of nothing Tiote found Cisse moving down towards the right corner of the box and a superb shot beat McGregor at his near post.

Coloccini was very unlucky with a volley from a Cabella corner that any world class striker would have been proud of, but it was charged down.  We seemed to be going for it now and had confidence after getting a goal back.  Bruce brought on Pardew’s sparring partner, Meyler, for Jelavic, to try and shore things up a bit.  Tiote, who gave his all, was replaced after getting cramp in both legs and was replaced by Sammi Ameobi.

Then, on 86 minutes, Gouffran cleverly headed a crossed ball into the path of Cisse, who gambled into the gap, powered in a shot to the glee of the Gallowgate and equalled his Premier League tally for last season in 18 minutes.  Bruce suddenly looked like the manager who didn’t know what was happening.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a winner, but hopefully we’ll be able to take the impetus and confidence gained with two well worked goals and a few decent performances, especially from Tiote and Sissoko,  while Cisse’s found his scoring boots and looked fit and sharp.

Here’s hoping for a win in the cup on Wednesday and we can start getting our season moving.  We showed great character to come back from two goals down at home, especially with the way things have been and credit deserves to go to the team for that.

If I say that the same credit should go to the staff and manager I’ll probably get strung up at the Gallowgate, so I won’t bother!

Newcastle United 2 Hull City 2

Team: Krul, Janmaat, Coloccini, Williamson, Dummett, Colback, Tiote (Sammy Ameobi 85), Sissoko, Gouffran (Perez 90+3), Cabella, Riviere (Cisse 69)

Unused Subs: Elliot, Steven Taylor, Anita, Haidara,

Ref: Neil Swarbrick

Crowd: 49,199 (2,600 away)

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