Articles 
Congratulations to everyone involved in winning this division, Chris Hughton, all of his backroom staff and of course, the players who remained at NUFC and upheld their commitment to get us back up to the premier league at the first attempt. When we were relegated we couldn’t go 5 minutes without some expert telling us how hard the league was, yet as we began to dominate it, all of a sudden the league was derided and put down continuously. Funny that.
Hughton brought in Fitz Hall for the injured Coloccini, Enrique came in for Ryan Taylor, Barton replaced Gutierrez and Andy Carroll returned to replace Shola Ameobi. We were nearly behind very early on when a Mackie shot brought a stunning save from Harper. From the resultant corner N’Gala put a free, point blank range header over the bar. After Carroll had fired wide from the edge of the box, his next involvement was to open the scoring. With 20 minutes on the clock, he rose to head a right wing corner into the far corner of the net, where a Plymouth defender had vacated his position. Wayne Routledge made it 2 after some great passing and movement from Barton and Guthrie and the little winger raced onto Barton’s through ball, dribbled ‘round the keeper and tucked his shot into the net to make it 2-0 after 28 minutes. Plymouth’s response was for Mackie to again bring a fine save from Harper, however, after that wild potshots were the best they could offer.
The 2nd half was really just a countdown to a party. We were first to threaten but Kevin Nolan’s volley went over the bar. Judge hit the bar for the hosts before sub, Leon Best did it for us. Stockdale saved from Barton and Simpson headed off the line in the last seconds.
That some of the players were prepared to play whilst being sick just goes to show how the squad has been transformed since our insipid and cowardly relegation.
Newcastle Team:
Harper,
Simpson,
Williamson,
Hall, Booked
Enrique,
Routledge,
Nolan, (Ameobi 70 mins),
Guthrie,
Smith (Captain),
Barton,
Carroll, Booked. (Best 70 Mins)
Subs not used:
Krul,
Pancrate,
Ryan Taylor,
Lovenkrands.
Plymouth Team:
Stockdale,
Eckersley,
N'Gala,
Reda Johnson,
Bhasera (Bolasie 81),
Duguid,
Damien Johnson,
Fletcher,
Judge,
Mackie,
Wright-Phillips (Joe Mason 75).
Subs not used:
Larrieu,
Clark,
Arnason,
Fallon,
Barker.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
Man of the Match: Routledge
Attendance: 13,111
League Position: 1st
