Habib Beye Watch - Sunderland

A thunderous Tyne / Wear derby lifted the spirits of both clubs with each set of supporters convinced their team had done enough to win.

New signing Kevin Nolan did his best to rally the troops in the pre-match huddle but Sunderland won the first half with a goal from Cisse that is now becoming a typical Newcastle goal... striker splits the centre-halves and slots home.

The all Geordie forward line (which we like to call ShACk attack - Shola and Andy Carroll) didn't look anywhere near as sharp as the Cisse / Jones pairing and despite our best efforts the Sunderland 11 pushed us back to a very deep defensive position.

Some very aggressive tackling may have taken their toll on a number of players, not least Jonas, who got kicked from pillar to post by a succession of aggressors. Credit to the Argentine for sticking with it and proving to be a thorn in the Sunderland rearguard all day. The Newcastle players were not found wanting in the tackling department either with Butt, Taylor, Collocini, Nolan and Enrique all getting involved. They were all trumped by Bassong, whose tackle on Jones brought the crowd to their feet in a scene not witnessed since Christians used to dance with Lions.

The second half turned the tables with Newcastle becoming the dominant force. Once Cisse was removed from the attack, the Mackems looked less of a threat and ex-Mag Chopra looked like the player we sold with a horrible pass to Jones capping off his awful cameo.

In truth though, Newcastle had good chances to level but didn't look like scoring in open play. For all Jonas and Duff's penetration, Shola looked like the worst version of himself; slow and ponderous with an apparent lack of any appreciation for what his team mates wanted him to do. Nolan gave him an earful on a number of occasions and Shola's best spell came after new-coach Calderwood put a flea in his lug too. Fortunately we didn't need to rely on the ShACk attack to create the equaliser. A run and dive from Taylor convinced the referee that Malbranque had fouled the stand-in full back and the spot kick was awarded. A sharp intake of breath by 45,000 people was expelled as Shola slotted the penalty home. The cool finish went some way towards making up for his poor personal performance and at least demonstrated that he has some fight in him.

All in all, a great game for the neutral (despite MOTD's terrible edit) and a fair result. We needed the 3 points but at least we didn't get beat which must be a mantra for our run-in which starts now....