Habib Beye Watch at West Brom

A nervous last 14 minutes at the Hawthorn gave way to delight as Newcastle won away from home since we thumped Portsmouth in December. As other teams below us failed to capitalise, the vital 3 points pushes Newcastle away from the bottom 3 but with big games to come against the top sides.

Beyewatch duo Ponch and Murrman (Picured looking like they're whislting) enjoyed the victory and celebrated long into the night.

Without Habib Beye, both defences played a part in producing an open game with 3 goals in the first 10 minutes. Damien Duff produced his best performance in a black and white shirt, no doubt boosted by a gift of a goal in the opening seconds of the game. Lovenkrands did well in his first start and the away fans appreciated the effort singing a new song with a particularly original tune (i.e. a tune that can't be identified).

With all 3 Newcastle goals coming in the first half, the second 45 minutes became a question of whether the Mags could hold on. West Brom, urged on by their fans, came more and more into the game and when Fortune scored his second it became a case of holding on. A few scares aside, the Newcastle team defended the lead as a team. New boys Taylor and Nolan put in a shift and Newcastle's midfield dominated possession. This dominance was almost wasted though as the majority of action came in the attacking thirds of both teams. The much aniticpated Smith, Viduka and Martins returns never materialised and with only 2 of the 3 making the bench and only the Duke making it onto the pitch. In their absence Lovenkrands and Ameobi did ok, the former scoring and having a number of further chances to test Scott Carson.

All in all a welcome result. Being this open is a worry but at least we're scoring again and the next 2 weeks will no doubt give us more time to integrate the new boys, get people fit (including the manager) and push on to the big ties around the corner.