Newcastle keep season alive with victory over Boro
Posted by JamesB in Middlesborough, Newcastle | 10 April 2006
Middlesbrough were brought back down to eart on Sunday by another impressive United performance. A 2-1 victory I predicted in my preview became reality thanks to a goal from in form striker Shola Ameobi, and an own goal from Boateng, who also got Boro's only goal.
We were 2-0 up by half time. The first goal came from a Nobby Solano corner which was met at the back post by Ameobi, and an almighty scramble between 4 players at the near post led to the ball ending up in the net, with the last touch seeming to be from Boateng, although in the post match interview Ameobi said he would stake his own claim for the goal. The next goal will definately be attributed to him; good work down the right from Steven Carr helped set up Ameobi, who drove a low shot across goal and right in to the corner of the net. Boro couldn't make it two comebacks in a week however despite Boateng scoring at the right end, albeit via a deflection from Bramble on his return from injury.
Ameobi's goal moved him to 9th in our all time Premiership goalscorers charts; he is now 1 goal ahead of Laurent Robert.
The Toon are now just 3 points behind Bolton, who the media would lead you to believe are chasing the Champions League, suggesting that perhaps there is still something left for us this season. The trouble is there will be one less UEFA cup place than usual, because one of the FA Cup finalists will be Boro, West Ham or Charlton, none of which will make Europe via league position. Even if Europe might be an unrealistic target, the prize money at stake per league position is still worth playing for.
Roeder was again unsure as to whether he would be in charge come the next United game; it has been well documented that Shepherd wants the new manager installed well before the end of the season, and in my opinion the appointment could be made during the week after the Tyne-Wear derby. I can't see Shepherd hiring the new manager before that game, where he could potentially lose support if the unthinkable happened!
Our next game sees us host Wigan, where a win would put us level on points with the Latics. After that we are playing 3 of the current bottom 4, so there is no reason we can't have a decent run in and move up a few places. Its always easy on paper of course, but we are at the stage of the season where you least want to face the teams at the bottom, as they will be desperately fighting to try and stay in the league, apart from Sunderland of course, but that is a derby match and anything can happen in a derby.