Refereeing decisions were turning point
NOT many referees have been mentioned in the same breath as Brian Coddington by Newcastle United fans over the past 18 years.
But James Linington joined Coddington in Geordie folklore on Saturday – again for all the wrong reasons.
Coddington famously sent off three players at Derby County's Baseball Ground back in 1992 in an incredible display of refereeing ineptitude.
Linington just dismissed one – Ryan Taylor – at The Hawthorns, but his whistling will live long in the memory, the official having missed two penalties at one end, and pointed to the spot twice at the other.
Admittedly, West Bromwich Albion were the better team for much of the game, not least the first half.
Roberto Di Matteo fielded a near full-strength side, while his opposite number Chris Hughton was deprived of Steven Taylor, Danny Simpson, Nicky Butt and Peter Lovenkrands.
Newcastle looked vulnerable down their right side, where Fabrice Pancrate was playing in front of Taylor, and so it proved in this FA Cup fourth-round clash.
Yet it could still have turned out very differently.
Trailing 2-1 as the hour mark approached, United were denied what looked a clear penalty when Shola Ameobi was bundled to the ground by Jonas Olsson and Gabriel Tamas.
Linington – who had awarded Albion a first-half penalty when Roman Bednar went down under a challenge from Tamas Kadar – thought otherwise, and West Brom raced upfield to score, and all but kill off hopes of a Newcastle comeback.
Taylor – who walked for his trip on Jerome Thomas – had earlier been denied a penalty himself, having been bundled to the ground by Graham Dorrans as he burst into the box.
Dorrans converted his second penalty of the game, and Thomas added insult to injury with a fourth before Andy Carroll – who had earlier smashed a stunning volley past Scot Carson to end his two-month goal drought – struck an injury-time consolation.
Coddington, not surprisingly, needed an escort off the pitch, his decision-making having infuriated United fans and players alike.
Thanks, at least in part, to Coddington, the Championship now has Newcastle's full attention.
West Brom's fixture list, meanwhile, looks that little bit more congested, the club travelling to Reading in the fifth round next month.
And the injuries and suspensions picked up at The Hawthorns by United underlined the pitfalls of a run in the competition, with Taylor banned for Wednesday's home game against Crystal Palace, and Ameobi nursing a shoulder problem.
The patched-up team fielded by Hughton also spelt out the need for further strengthening, as his defence is starting to look a little threadbare.
Hughton will be without three right-backs – Taylor, Danny Simpson and Geremi – for the Palace game.
Whatever Linginton's shortcomings, Saturday also highlighted Newcastle's, not that Hughton needed telling.
Hughton, pictured, knows his squad is vulnerable to injury, United having largely ridden their luck on that front so far this season.
Thanks to Coddington, they've got at least one less game to worry about, but that was scant consolation at the final whistle to Hughton and his players – and the 3,000 supporters who travelled half the length of the country to West Brom.
And they know events on and off the pitch over the next seven days could go a long way in deciding whether they will be celebrating come the end of the season.
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Weather for South Shields
Saturday 11 February 2012
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