Magpies claim victory at Birmingham

By Peter Donnelly
September 28 2002

Alan Shearer was voted man-of-the-match as Newcastle United picked up 3 vital points at St. Andrews. A great Solano strike and a late Shola Ameobi goal won the game for The Magpies. It was our first win away from home this season and second league win in a row.

It was Newcastle who made the good start to the game, pulling the strings in midfield and dominating possesion. Birmingham then came back into it though on about 30 mins and put some pressure on Newcastle, forcing Given to pull of a couple good saves after Morrison and Devlin strikes. It was during Birmingam's good spell though when Nolberto Solano got the first goal on about 30 mins with a stunning strike on the egde of the box, after excellent build up play. After tidying things up Gary Speed played the ball up to Shearer who produced a magestic first-time flick to Laurent Robert. Robert then squared the ball back to Shearer who let it run to Solano and Nobby belted the ball home.

Newcastle went in at half-time one up with Solano and Shearer instrumental for the Magpies.

The second half was fairly even in terms of possesion but Newcastle showed their quality and passed the ball much better. Shearer's hold up play upfront was immense and on 89 minutes he set up the second goal which sealed the victory. After constant Birmingham pressure near the end of the game Newcastle broke away. Shearer had time and space to play substitute Shola Ameobi through on goal and the youngster's shot was originally blocked before it came back off him from the keeper and into the net. A bit lucky, but the lad needed some infront of goal.

One really, really good note on this peformance was Newcastle's defence. Compared to what we are usually used to seeing, the back 4 was fairly compact throughout the game and Birmingham never really got in behind them.

Also, Gary Speed produced an excellent performance in midfield, defying his critics. He protected the back four very well and the Welshman's distribution was also impressive. Kieron Dyer is still to perform at his best, but his work-rate was very effective.

Ratings: Given 8, Griffin 8, Hughes 8, Dabizas 7, O'Brien 8, Solano 9, Robert 6, Dyer 7, Speed, 8, LuaLua 6.5, Shearer 9.