Newcastle continued their revival with a
comfortable 2-0 win over a West Brom side which were completely overran by Alan Pardew's new revitalised men.
Two assists from right back Daryl Janmaat,
providing goals for Ayozé Perez and Fabricio Coloccini were enough to see off a
Baggies side which seems to have stalled after going four games unbeaten.
After an awful start to the season, the
Magpies have now won their last five matches to completely transform the fortune of their season.
Going into the game, it was Saido Berahino who was
grabbing the headlines. The top English goal scorer in the Premier League saw
his impressive start to this season rewarded with his first call up for the
England senior team. However today he failed to impress under the spotlight. It
reflected in his team's performance as none of his team mates could carry their
recent run of form into the game. Berahino was left isolated and chances were
few and far between.
The real star of the encounter was Ayoze Perez. The Spaniard, purched for £1.5 million in the summer from tenerife was the scorer of a subline first goal and displayed incredible work ethic throughout.
The match was played at an incredibly high intensity.
Free flowing football and minimum fouls meant that it was an entertaining
spectacle to watch from the neutral perspective. Both fans were respective of
one another, Newcastle fans carrying out the minutes applause for the ‘justice
for Jeff’ campaign and the West Brom home fans participating in the minutes
applause in memory of Liam Sweeney and John Alder, the two victims of the
Malaysian airline tragedy in the summer. During the ninth minute round of
applause for Jeff Astle, the away side nearly took the lead. The ball bounced
up to Sammy Ameobi on the right hand side of the penalty area and his looping
left footed shot bounced off the top of the crossbar.
The Baggies responded with their best and
potentially only clear cut chance of the match with 16 minutes gone. The ball
was played into Victor Anichebe, who used his body well to hold off his marker
and lay the ball off to Berahino on the right hand side of the penalty area. Unfortunately
his shot was taken off balance and was easily saved by Tim Krul.
In the old football cliché, the team from the North
East scored on the perfect time with 45 minutes on the clock. A first time
cross was fizzed along the floor towards six yard box from the right hand side
of the penalty area by Janmaat, where Perez flashed across the front post and
ingeniously flicked the ball with his back foot into the far post to net his
third goal in as many matches.
The clubs were essentially cancelling each
other out in the first half. The middle of the pitch was bombarded as both opted to play five men in the middle of the pitch meant that an opening
was hard to find.
Perez’s goal opened up the game but in the favour
of Newcastle. They continued with their relentless pressure meaning it
was hard for West Brom to find an opening.
With 62 minutes gone the team from Tyneside doubled
their lead. Janmaat again the provider from the right. This time he easily
skipped past Youssuff Mulumbu on the touch line and whipping a cross in to a
completely unmarked Coloccini who had the simple task of nodding home from
close range to deplete West Brom.
The second goal knocked the stuffing out of the
home team. Despite threatening to score they could never get through the wall
of blue and green shirts. The victory was nearly made all so sweeter when Perez
had the chance to double his tally for the game but his volley from a cross by
Ryan Taylor was saved by ‘keeper Ben Foster.
West Brom manager Alan Irvine said his Baggies side “lacked
intensity” but admitted “the goal right on half time was a boost for them
(Newcastle)”. The Scot also described his star striker’s performance as “his
poorest game but everyone has bad games”.
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew, despite fearing his job
was lost a few weeks ago, was buoyed by the victory today describing it as a “disciplined
and strong performance”.
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