I've been told by my dad many times before that Newcastle has the best home fans and its always a great atmosphere at St. James' Park. Even there's a movie (Goal!) that was flimed there because of the fans. But then again, they were playing against United, who has the best travelling fans around.
Newcastle in this match was psyched and pumped up in search for revenge against a United side who thrashed them 6-0 at Old Trafford back in January. With new manager, Kevin Keegan and some additions from the January transfer and nothing to lose, Newcastle prepared a plan to crash United's title defence.
From the whistle they attacked and United were on the back-heel most of the time. But they kept themselves composed and tried to attack back! On and on, the physical game Newcastle plays outwitted our flying Portugeses (Ronny and Nani) and even matched the likes of Rooney and Tevez, causing a slight problem to the Red side of Manchester.
Then it happened... Ronaldo saw Rooney making a run towards the goal and was unmarked. He crossed in a perfect cross to allow Rooney to tap in for United's first goal of the day! The Newcastle crowd immediately fell silent. Speechless on how their team went behind once again and most probably wondering if they were ever going to win a match under Kevin Keegan.
Still with the score kept at 1-0, Newcastle decided not to give up and force an attack of their own. Each time their attack came, it was warded off by the strong defense set up by Ferdinand and Vidic and there were times where Lady Luck shone upon us and the ball ended up with their fans instead. Just before the half time whistle, a perfect through ball from Carrick to Ronaldo saw the Portugese winger get his 20th goal of the season and United was up 2-0 before the break.
After the break, there were changes to both sides as Evra came off for O' Shea and Given (newcastle's keeper) was exchanged for Steve Harper. As before, both teams attacked and defended well. One trying to score goals another trying to keep the score reasonable. But it was not to be Newcastle's day as Ronaldo once again got the ball, brushed off his marker and set on his solo run tricking the keeper and slotting home his 21st Premier League goal of 2007/2008!
Will we be seeing another hat trick from that kid? Well he wouldn't get that chance as he was subbed off for Lois Saha much later. United took off Vidic who was carrying a knock and brought on Paul Scholes to give the ageing midfielder a run out. A few changes by Newcastle brought a new face of attacking options and they got their consolation goal in the 79th minute only for it to be canceled out by a Rooney goal!
That was 2 goals for Ronaldo and 2 goals for Rooney! Will we be seeing a hat-trick today? Well being the generous kid Rooney is, he sacrificed his hat-trick and set up saha for the 5th goal of the day! With the job done and Arsenal failing to win against Birmingham, United is back within 3 points of Arsenal! Back to the title race
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