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This win has us in a position where only hefty defeats from now on in can deny us automatic promotion. Nottingham Forest’s draw at Bristol City now means that we could only be overturned on goal difference, which is heavily in our favour. However this was no stroll in park.
Hughton made radical changes to the side which turned over Nottingham Forest on Monday evening. Removed from the starting line up were Routledge, Guthrie, Gutierrez, Carroll and Lovenkrands, in came Pancrate, Smith, Barton, Ameobi and Best. The new look side looked disjointed and over 4,000 Mags scratched their heads at what was going on.
We got off to a poor start and fell behind when a routine long ball brought a break down in communications between Harper and his central defence, the keeper’s attempted acrobatic clearance travelled about 10 yards and Green lobbed into an empty net from 30 yards. We continued to struggle and Torres raced clear into the area but misfired badly, launching the ball into orbit rather than the net. Nolan then brought a sharp save from Lewis after being fed by Coloccini, Enrique’s last gasp challenge prevented the home side doubling their lead but seconds before half time Nolan used an indeterminate part of his anatomy to bundle Enrique’s flashing, left wing cross past Lewis to equalise.
The terrible Pancrate was removed at half time and Routledge brought a touch of class to proceedings. Just 3 minutes into the second half and Ameobi won a free kick 25 yards from goal. Joey Barton, who had been way off the pace until this point fired a superb strike into the corner of the net. Leon Best who is also struggling badly at the moment dragged a glorious chance wide when clean through on goal. We didn’t have to wait long for a 3rd. Ameobi’s speculative right foot drive from outside the box sneaked through Lewis’ hands and bobbled in. With collective thoughts drifting to Ashton Gate and some shockingly fate tempting chants from the away end we were made to sweat when Dickinson turned home a long throw in with 15 minutes left to play. The Posh went close 3 times with headers flashing narrowly wide. It was more a case of ‘time ran out’ rather than ‘us standing firm’ and had we blown it, then there would have been some red faces on the away terrace. Our reputation for being a little bit ‘up ourselves’ is built entirely on occasions like these. Lessons to be learned me thinks.
Easter Monday provides the opportunity to nail promotion at SJP.
Newcastle Team:
Harper,
Simpson,
Williamson,
Coloccini, Booked
Enrique,
Pancrate (Routledge 46 mins),
Nolan,
Smith (Captain),
Barton (Gutierrez Booked),
Best, Booked (Butt 83 mins),
Ameobi.
Subs not used:
Krul,
Kadar,
Ryan Taylor,
Lovenkrands.
Peterborough United Team:
Lewis,
Gilbert,
Zakuani,
Geohaghon,
Griffiths,
Torres (Simpson 46),
Lee (Bennett 55),
Frecklington,
Rowe,
Dickinson,
Green (Mackail-Smith 46).
Subs not used:
McKeown,
Day,
Mills,
Reid.
Referee: Mark Haywood (Yorkshire)
Man of the Match: Jose Enrique
Attendance: 12,877
League Position: 1st
