NUFC 1 v Leicester 0

On a night that was perhaps better suited to duck’s, Newcastle United went top of the league with a Danny Guthrie bullet sinking Leicester City..

So come on, who’s enjoying the fizzy pop league?

Until last night, Leicester hadn’t been beaten in 6 months, and they did look a decent side, at least in the first half they were pressing us and we struggled to get any king of hold of the game, we maybe should have had a penalty early on, but the referee missed a blatant handball in the box, and the linesman seemingly ignored all call’s, inconsistency rears it’s head again, although, this time it would not have a bearing on the outcome.

Half time came at the right time in my opinion, we were looking a little unsteady and Leicester were starting to get hold of the ball, we looked unsure but this shouldnt surprise anyone given the fact we were really down to the bare bones, with Shola and Carroll both injures, Nile Ranger made his first league start alongside makeshift striker Kevin Nolan, who, to be fair, had a decent game.
Newcastle United never cease to amaze people, and with all of our “experienced” strikers injured, we ship Xisco out on loan to Racing Santander, maybe the club have a striker lined up, but with suggestions Peter Lovenkrands has already turned us down twice, perhaps Earnshaw is top of the list, either way, we need a forward before the end of today’s deadline.

The second half saw a bright start, the rain had calmed down slightly and we looked to take a bit of control, and it was Guthrie who broke the clods with a bullet just 7 minutes from the restart, The Leazes went mental and we shot to the top of the table, queue “we are top of the league” yes, it’s early days, but when did we last have anything to shout about.

The game moved on, and Nolan dropped back a bit, maybe he was just knackered but leaving Ranger up front on his own was possibly one of the highlights of last nights game, after a less than impressive first half, young Nile began to hol the ball up, lay it off with confidence and he started to look like a lad who’d been playing there for years, even if it was his first league start – you have to commend him for his performance, and look forward to seeing more of him as he gains experience, as we said in our pre-season review, he really is the one to watch.

As the game went on, Newcastle started to look tired, and with a reminder as to just how thin our squad is now, Hughton brough on Kadar, Vikic and Donaldson, for Barton, Ranger and Guthrie, still enough to see off Leicester but a worrying though long term.

We finished the game the better side, running down the clock well and looking like a team that actually want to play football, and not a team full of overpaid, under performing has been’s, Alan Smith is rising to the occasion and put in another solid performance, Taylor again looked steady and a really promising game from Nile Ranger, not to mention Danny Guthrie…

We can look forward to a break now, but I’ll be way happier when the transfer window is closed, for a change Im more concerned about who’s staying at St James’ than who’s coming in, we do need a striker though…

Guthries bullet…