Football: Magpies make early swoop: Newcastle claim first victory
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Your support makes all the difference.Newcastle United. . .1
Everton. . . . . . . 0
EVERTON lost their 100 per cent record in an exciting contest at St James' Park last night. For Newcastle, it was their first win in four starts and they probably just about deserved their success through a first-half goal from Malcolm Allen, their pounds 300,000 buy from Millwall the day before the season started.
The game was only seven minutes old when Everton's John Ebbrell was booked for a crunching tackle on Lee Clark. Never one to over-dramatise a situation, Clark was quickly on his feet, but there was no doubting the visitors' determination. Tony Cottee, looking sharp, surprised everyone with a towering kick back to his keeper from 50 yards and Neville Southall's startled response was to volley the ball high into the air before his defenders came to the rescue.
Cottee, who scored a hat-trick last Saturday, then lost his scoring touch when Steve Watson miskicked horribly. The Everton striker was left with an open goal, but he managed to lob the ball against the crossbar.
It was a costly miss with Newcastle taking the lead after 19 minutes through Allen. Clark, who looked to be back to his form of last season, rolled a superb ball into the path of Allen, whose drive from the edge of the area took a deflection off a defender before flying into the net.
Mark Ward and Allen had a clash in midfield, other players joining the dispute before the referee stepped in. United, meanwhile, were hungry for more goals and Barry Venison almost deceived Southall with a swerving 35-yard drive that the keeper could only parry. Next, Matthew Jackson cleared a low shot from Clark off the line.
Everton began the second half with Predrag Radosavljevic replacing Peter Beagrie, who had suffered a recurrence of a hip injury sustained against Sheffield United on Saturday. The substitute soon found Cottee with a well-judged pass that Kevin Scott was unable to cut out, but Pavel Srnicek was quickly off his line to dive at Cottee's feet and divert the ball for a corner.
Cottee was one of the most industrious men on the park, though he was having no luck with his finishing. He chased a long pass out of defence to surprise United's defence, but drove the ball wide of the far post as the keeper narrowed the angle.
Venison was then cautioned for bringing down the striker as he homed in again. When Everton took the free-kick, Paul Bracewell, formerly of Everton, was booked for encroaching.
Newcastle United (4-4-2): Srnicek; Watson, Venison, Scott, Beresford; Clark, O'Brien, Bracewell, Papavassiliou; Cole, Allen. Substitutes not used: Appleby, Wright (gk), Neilson.
Everton (4-4-2): Southall; Holmes (Barlow, 76), Jackson, Ablett, Hinchcliffe; Stuart, Ward, Ebbrell, Beagrie (Radosavljevic, h-t); Cottee, Rideout. Substitutes not used: Kearton (gk), Barlow.
Referee: G Ashby (Worcester).
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