Match Report: Birmingham 1-2 Newcastle
By Matthew Jones
July 25 2003
Newcastle will now play in the final of the Asia Cup against either Chelsea of Malaysia on Sunday while Birmingham will now play in a third-place play off on Saturday. FULL MATCH REPORT now online.
Newcastle United kicked off their Asia Cup campaign today, with a 2-1 victory over Premiership rivals, Birmingham City.
Both teams got off to a slow start, although Manchester United and Chelsea target Kieron Dyer was in impressive form.
Craig Bellamy's pace was also causing some problems for the Blues - which went on to lead to the first goal.
HT: Birmingham City 1 - 2 Newcastle United
It looked like Steve Bruce had given his Birmingham side a decent team-talk, as they came out and started to cause problems to the Newcastle back four. With 19 minutes remaining, the Blues earned themselves a penalty, which Paul Devlin slotted home to put Birmingham back on level terms.
However, just three minutes later, it Shola Ameobi climbed high above the Blues defence to head home a winning goal from a superb Craig Bellamy cross.
Newcastle will now play in the final of the Asia Cup against either Chelsea of Malaysia on Sunday while Birmingham will now play in a third-place play off on Saturday.
Teams:
Newcastle: Harper, Griffin, Bramble, O'Brien, Bernard, Dyer, Bowyer, Speed, Robert, Bellamy, Shearer. Subs: Given, Solano, Jenas, Cort, Ambrose, Hughes, Ameobi, Woodgate, Chopra, Caldwell, Viana.
Birmingham: Bennett, Damien Johnson, Cunningham, Upson, Clapham, Savage, Dunn, Clemence, Lazaridis, Horsfield, Dugarry. Subs: Doyle, Kenna, Devlin, John, Carter, Tebily, Hughes, Purse.
Referee: R Styles (Hampshire)