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Noarlunga United
Match Report
The Unthinkable
has Happened
Newcastle United 1... 
Dyer '28
Sunderland
2 .................
Quinn '65
Phillips '76
Ruud
Gullit might have almost nailed his own coffin last night at St. James'
with the Toon
going down
2-1 in an embarressing defeat to the Mackems in the Tyne-Wear derby. In
an
amazing decision
Ruud decided to start with Shearer on the bench, opting for young Paul
Robinson instead.
And even after crashing to their fourth loss of the season, the Dutchman
maintained
he had made
the right choice.
"When
we played the first half, nobody complained. But when we had them (Shearer
and Ferguson)
on in the second
half we lost, so what is the conclusion? You can make the conclusion,
"Now
I think 'did I do the right thing to put them on?' - because we were winning,"
said Gullit.
Newcastle
hit the lead after 28 minutes, against the run of play, when young Robinson
went
some way to
justifying his selection, when his through ball to Kieren Dyer split the
Mackems
defence to
put the £6 million summer signing in for his first goal for the club,
after Sunderland
winger nicky
Summerbee failed to step up with the rest of the defence.
That
temporarily quietened the sizeable element of the crowd who had be baying
for
Shearer's introduction,
as they celebrated taking the lead, but as the rain hosed down in
unbelievable
torrents, Gullit's hopes for the evening began to dissolve.
Everything
had gone well until after the interval, when with Ferguson and not Shearer
introduced for
young Robinson,
Sunderland drew level.
Quinn,
who had missed two earlier opportunities, made amends as from a Summerbee
free-kick
on the right,
he guided a flicked header across shock selection Tommy Wright and into
the bottom
right hand
corner.
That
was the cue for Shearer's introduction and eight minutes later the home
town hero entered the
fray to massive
roars of approval. It was not then without huge irony that three minutes
after
Shearer's entry,
Newcastle fell behind for the first time in the match, as Kevin Phillips
brilliantly curled
a chip on the
rebound over Tommy Wright, after the on loan keeper had magnificently kept
his initial
effort at bay
as he burst into the box .
With
£23M worth of attacking talent combined together in Shearer and Ferguson,
ironically on a
pitch by now
barely playable, it was Sunderland veteran Kevin Ball who came nearest
to
rescuing Newcastle's
hopes with a freak 35 yard drive that cannoned back off his
own cross bar,
as he slid thunderously into a tackle.
With
the media scenting the blood of the embattled Gullit in the post match
press conference,
he responded
to suggestions that he may not be in charge after upcoming games at
Manchester
United and Chelsea by stating, "I still think that I'm entitled to the
job. I have to
do what I have
to do and that's make this team better."
Whilst
some may criticise Gullit's results in the opening part of the season,
when admittably
his squad has
been riven with injuries, few could quibble with his single minded courage
and
determination
to turn things around his way, even it seems if that means the god like
figure
of Shearer
must warm the substitute's bench.
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