Villa nick draw from St. James'

By Peter Donnelly
November 2 2003

Newcastle United drew with Aston Villa on Saturday - much to the dismay of the fans. United had most the possesion and a lot of the chances but failed to punish Villa. Alan Shearer also produced a exact copy of his penatly nearly 3 years ago against rivals Sunderland.

Newcastle started brightly but it was Aston Villa who scored against the run of play through a Dublin header.

However, United were finding holes in Villa's defence, with Alan Shearer having a goal-bound shot blocked in the box and ex-mackem Thomas Sorenson had to deal with a lot of crosses.

The referee wasn't helping things mind, a lot of his decisions baffled and annoyed the crowd throughout the game.

Newcastle were the subject of some sloppyness aswell though, with Jermaine Jenas having an off-day.

Just before half-time though, Laurent Robert levelled things up with an excellent goal. Lee Bowyer nearly squeezed in a shot after good play on the edge of the box and the clearence only fell to Robert, who volleyed home the equalizer with a delightful shot.

Half-time: 1-1.

The second half was more of the same, and then more. Laurent Robert raised his game and Lee Bowyer took the game by the scruff of it's neck.

Despite the possession and crosses though it was looking as if it wasn't going to be our day.

To the delight of the crowd though, a different ex-mackem, Gavin McCann, was sent off having already been booked after a bad tackle on Robert.

As yet another corner came in though near the end, Gareth Barry hand-balled and the ref gave a penalty. It was the same end (Gallowgate) as when Shearer missed against Sunderland in the year 2000, so we all hoped it wouldn't happen again.

However, it did. And it was carbon copy. I was hoping a winner would put on over the moaning buggers in the stands, but a win in this game just wasn't to be.

Full-time: 1-1.

Overall, we played well and should have won. We were a bit sloppy here and there but the players created chances and need to be more clinical aswell as a bit of luck.