Coventry win leaves Toon in seventh heaven
IT wasn't quite Howay 5-0 – but for those Newcastle United fans at the Ricoh Arena – and there were many of them – it was still a victory to savour.
The last time the club recorded a seventh consecutive league win, they trounced Manchester United at St James's Park in October 1996, the game being remembered best for Philippe Albert's audacious lob of Peter Schmeichel.
This time, it was merely a 2-0 win over Coventry City in English football's unglamorous second tier.
And there wasn't the buccaneering football of the Kevin Keegan era, but the victory was still a sweet one, and the 4,000 Newcastle fans at the Ricoh Arena left the ground thinking their team had taken another huge step towards the Premier League.
For United are now seven points clear of second-placed West Bromwich Albion, and five more ahead of Cardiff City in third.
Twelve-point leads are dangerous, as Newcastle know to their cost, but something about the way Chris Hughton's side played suggests they won't crumble over the coming weeks and months.
Coventry played as much football as United, and had chances of their own, yet whenever they threatened, there was a yellow-shirted player ready to throw himself in front of a shot, or slide into a tackle.
There was a steel about them, something underlined by their defensive record, with the shut-out their fourth in a row.
It's now 371 mintues since Peterborough United's Dean Keates slipped the ball past Steve Harper.
But the night didn't belong to Hughton's defence, despite a string of last-ditch tackles and blocks, or Harper, who was there when he needed to be.
It belonged to two of his strikers – Shola Ameobi and Nile Ranger.
Ameobi made it on to the pitch for the first time in more than three months, and while the 28-year-old, understandably given his lay-off, struggled with the pace of the game, he was there when it counted on the stroke of half-time.
Jose Enrique, again outstanding in defence, played the ball to him, and he turned Leon Barnett before shooting past Kieren Westwood with his left foot.
Coventry, meanwhile, couldn't make their opportunities count, with Leon Best having earlier struck the crossbar.
It had been anyone's game until Ameobi's intervention, and despite the home side's pressure, there was something they about Newcastle which suggested the weren't going to let this one slip.
And, as against Watford on Saturday, they sealed the win late in the game, with Ranger scoring what will hopefully be the first of many goals for the club, tapping in from close range after Enrique crossed from the left.
Fittingly, the goal came in front of the huge travelling contingent, but Ranger – for all it meant to him – didn't get carried away with his celebration.
The 18-year-old has clearly had it drummed into him that he's got a long way to go in his career, and likewise the club before they are back in the top flight, where undoubtedly they belong.
However, who is to say he can't follow in Albert's footsteps and net against Man United in a black and white shirt?
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Weather for South Shields
Friday 25 May 2012
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