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Noarlunga United
Match Report
So Close, But
Yet So Far....
Newcastle United 3... 
Speed '7
Domi '28
Solano '46 (pen)
Wimbledon
3 .................
Hughes '44
Ainsworth '66, '90
The
one that got away. Again. We were cruising. You'd think 3-1 up anyone would
win.
But, alas,
it wasn't to be, and for the third game in a row we through the lead away.
Only
7 minutes had passed when Gary Speed gave us the lead. Domi broke down
the left
only to be
pulled back by Carl Cort, and although he went to ground easily, the free
kick was given.
The delicate touch of Peruvian Nol Solano guided the ball onto the head
of Gary Speed,
and the Toon were off to a flyer.
Then
just inside the half hour, a flowing team move, that went from one end
to the other
to make it
2-0. An overhead clearance from Temuri Ketsbaia (which the crowd loved)
was lucky
to find young
Paul Robinson, who was on debut for Newcastle. He turned the defender neatly
and
layed the ball
off for Domi on the overlap down the left, who in turn played a lovely
little one-two
with Solano
to put him in on goal. Domi made no mistake, muscling the defender out
of the
contest before
squeezing the ball in at the near post.
On the
stroke of halftime Michael Hughes pulled one back for the Dons. Kimbles
corner was flicked
on by Cort,
and Hughes was on hand to ram the ball into the roof of the net.
Newcastle
restored their 2 goal advantage just 19 seconds into the second half, but
they
had the referee,
or more so the linesman to thank for it. Ketsbaia broke into the box but
his
attempted cross,
shot or whatever it was bounced off the hand of the unlucky Wimbledon defender.
The handball
looked to be unintentional, but the referee referred to his linesman before
pointing
to the spot,
which sparked angry protests from the Wimbledon players. Solano, in the
absence of
Shearer who
was serving his suspension for his 'red card offence' on the opening day,
slotted
the ball comfortably
past Wimbledon keeper Neil Sullivan.
David
Beharall, who came on for the injured Alain Goma, was to blame for the
2nd Wimbledon
goal. He hesitated
to control the ball, then mis-kicked his clearance and Wimbledon sub Gareth
Ainsworth pounced
on the error to make the score 3-2.
That
sparked nervous moments in the Newcastle defence. And it was Ainsworth
again in
stoppage time
who scored the equalizer. Newcastle failed to clear the ball, and Ainsworth
made
room for himself
inside the 18 yard box to power home his shot.
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