This win certainly puts the festive cheer in me today and it’ll only bring yet more confidence into the Newcastle side in the run up to the match at the JJB. The three points today puts us 12th in the table and looking in good shape. It still doesn’t mean that we our out of it just yet. There are still teams below us that can have a good run of matches.

Things in the first half started with pace and energy. The passing was fluid and crisp and Aston Villa was contained for most of the time. The scariest moment was probably when Agbonlahor missed a sitter when it drifted in front of the goal. Newcastle did there job keeping Villas’ pace in check but still no sign of a goal coming from anywhere.

It took 60mins for Newcastle to break the deadlock when Barton fed Martins on the edge of the box only for him to turn and shoot a lovely goal close to the left post. A wonderful clinical finish which we expect from Martins time and again. Awesome. We came close again when a free kick was called 25 yards from Freidels’ goal mouth. Duff the recipent of the foul gave way for Nicky Butt who glanced the ball off the post much to Kinnear’s amusement. Things were certainly going our way as Aston Villa failed to contain our pushes forward into their half. Another goal came beckoning as Gutierrez loses Reo-Coker and runs into the box. He looks up and picks out Martins and the pass allowed the Nigerian to knock in a very close range shot. The team were estatic! Michael Owen didn’t feature much and was put on the pitch three minutes from the whistle. But it was enough to bag the three points and Newcastle were rampant in the second half as Aston Villa faded.

Martins’ brace, a clean sheet and no injured players; by far the best win of the season so far!

The second half was closely fought and it took a mistake from Dunne to accidently put the ball in his own net to leave the St James Park crowd in raptures. However, a win was not to be as after 80 minutes, Stephen Ireland managed to make the scoreline level once more. In the end it was another display of grit from the black n white and maybe there will be light at the end of the tunnel as Kinnear begins to whip the players into something that might actually be self-belief. As Spurs drift further behind and Newcastle head to a very winner-able game against Sunderland, it does look promising on paper at least.

The latest today is that the red card against Beye has at last been nulled, leaving the player available for the big derby. Good news indeed. As for Styles; his days as a Premiership ref may well be numbered.

Plenty of stories regarding a rift between Keegan and Ashley/Wise from the papers and ol’ king Kev hasn’t been adverse to showing some press conference frustrations. Ashley has been a target of a lot of press speculation over his apparent approaches to various consortiums and foreign groups. He doesn’t particularly help his cause with a lot of fan impatience over the lack of new faces and investment. Well, new faces we did get initially but it was the Chairman, Chris Mort, who saw himself out of the gates of St James’ Park. His replacement, Derek Llambias has been just as anonymous if not more so. On the senior team, the new faces didn’t exactly rush in but we did see some troublesome long standing players leave the club, most notably Stephen Carr amougst the ones heading towards the exit. We still need to see if Ameobi leaves but chances are he’ll head off to Stoke City this evening. Along the summer we picked up a hand full of new faces namely , Danny Gruthrie, Jonas Gutierrez and until recently, Fabricio Coloccini. Hardly epic stuff on the face of it.

That brings us to players who are staying put. Steven Taylor signed a new contract whilst Michael Owen is still faffing about a new one. Personally, Ashley will have the upper hand in the contract talks if Owen doesn’t shake off the ’sick note’ tag. Also, any concerns with Shay Given or Harper moving were quicky dispelled by the players.

It was a bad summer for Joey Barton. Keegan was quick to stand by him but fans were left slightly bemused that a problematic player, who picks up a £80,000 a month pay check really deserves a place in a top flight club. Barton certainly isn’t off the hook. The FA are currently looking at dishing out a hefty ban on the player as well as him facing yet more accusations of violent conduct from Ex City team mate, Jamie Tandy. Barton alledgelly stubbed a cigarette in Tandy’s eye!

There’s certainly a chance of seeing some more elevnth hour signings before the transfer window closes. I wouldn’t expect any big names. The expectations of Sunday’s fixture will be low due to us missing several key players at Old Trafford. Duff will probably be paired up with Martins up front and Smith will certainly still be in a black n’ white shirt despite Everton’s keen interest. Duff has been a relevation over the summer friendlies finding some scoring form that has eluded him since his move from Chelsea. I’m certainly up for seeing more from the Irish player throughout the new season.

I’ve just renewed my club membership and looking forward to getting the pack soon.  Apparently, there’s now a chance to have first picks on general sale tickets so worth a shot whilst accepting the price hike. Roll on the new season!

Newcastle started off well with purpose but concentration dimmed as the minutes ticked and it was N’Zogbia who allowed Rooney to sneak through and finish a cross by Ronaldo. The Man U poster boy himself went on the score sheet twice. His second goal was the product of some slack passing by Faye. All this was overlooked by Sir Bobby Robson who was probably wondering how things could ‘ve have been different if he was sacked those many years ago. A brief ray of light, offered Faye with a goal from a corner set piece before Rooney scored his brace minutes later. Newcastle old boy, Saha finished us off with a clinical shot past Harper. Don’t blame Harper here as the defending was all over the shop again.
I am going to try and draw some positives from this match so to begin with the St James’ Park crowd did their best to lift the team. It probably contributed to our brisk start. However, players didn’t live up to their billing as usual and lapses in concentration costed us dearly yet again. If I did highlight some player performances, I would pick out Damien Duff and Milner, who both worked hard throughout. There is another injury worry for Shay Given meant he was subbed by Harper, who did an admirable job in the second half despite letting in the goals.

That’s now our tenth defeat in succession and caused by weak defending. Hopefully, our new assistant coach, Chris Hughton from Tottenham would be able to look at the defending situation, but then again didn’t Spurs have bad defensive frailities as well? Whatever happens, KK and the team need to keep their cool and start working for results.

Next up is we face up to Mark Hughes’ Blackburn Rovers at SJP.

Our back line didn’t exactly do any favours for us with Beye and Rozza both making mistakes to let both Barnes and then Miller put the ball past Shay. Both goals showed that defensively we are still fragile and no doubt Allardyce would be worried.

Our saviour was Viduka whose goal brace put the smiles back on the Toon army. Both Martins and Emre also came close to scoring but it was not to be. Drama also included a blatently sound penalty shout as Smith was pushed in the back whilst attempting an overhead kick.

Not the result the fans wanted today and showed again that we still need work at the back. But on the postive side, Viduka looked deadly and showed what a good aquistion he is. Also, today marked the return of Damien Duff from injury as he put on a decent performance but in time we hope he’ll return to some of the form he showed when he was at Chelsea.

Next up, it’s to the JJB to face Bramble and co.

Meanwhile, preperations are continuing at Newcastle to host the home game against Liverpool. The Reds would be another big test for Big Sam with injury worries mounting in our defensive line up. A positive note this week has been the return of Duff into full training with the lads. Duff has been out for seven months with a foot injury but his inclusion into the team would be a welcomed one.

The endless Joey Barton will-he-won’t-he saga took another twist today as Allardyce said Barton would not likely play against Spurs on Monday. Having picked up a metarsal foot injury over the summer, Barton has been out of the running for a long while. Instead, Barton will remain on the bench on Monday night with an eye on the forthcoming  Reading or Pompey matches for a return. On the same injury front, Damien Duff has often been seen in the same glorious midfielder mould as Barton but again, has been blighted by injury. It was reported on the official website that Duff suffered a career threatening foot injury therefore leaving him well and truly indefinietely in the medical room. Hopefully, his return will be close as well.