Souness Relieved

By Nick Raynor
October 24 2005

Newcastle Manager Graeme Souness is relieved after his team beat Sunderland 3-2 in the Tyne-Wear derby.

Pressure was mounting on Souness and his job would have been on the line if he had lost to newly-promoted Sunderland.

 

But thanks to 2 goals from Shola Ameobi and a second-half freekick from Emre, Newcastle managed to win 3-2.

 

Souness said:

 

"I am relieved,"

 

"Sunderland finished very strong.

 

"We had several players who did well to play today. Shola (Ameobi) is not fully fit, Nobby (Solano) has not played any football, Emre's not played any football and on top of that, Stephen Carr is feeling his groin and Scott Parker has a dead leg, so they deserve special mentions and are the reasons Sunderland finished stronger than us.

 

"I felt the first half belonged to us, we scored two good goals and they had two shots at goal and scored two spectacular goals."

 

"We have huffed and puffed in recent weeks without our door openers. We have played without Albert Luque, Emre, Kieron Dyer, Nobby and those players are going to be missed.

 

"We have played five games, conceding two goals but not scoring enough goals. We have looked solid, but have not had much imagination in midfield but today we had that because we had door openers.

 

"Our supporters have enjoyed it, I have enjoyed it and will enjoy tonight. I booked two tables at the restaurant, one in the kitchen and one by the window and I can use the one in the window!"