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Your support makes all the difference.Those who consider football to be soap opera with balls would have enjoyed the script played out at St James' Park yesterday. Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy, who with an elbow in the face there and a petulant kick here, got themselves banned from Sir Bobby Robson's emotional return to Barcelona, found redemption in the manner football most appreciates – dramatic late goals – which stopped a run of six straight Everton victories in its tracks.
Shearer's was magnificent, a volley from 20 yards which the Newcastle captain rated among the best three he had ever scored, while Bellamy's was fortuitous, a shot from very tight on the byline in the final minute which deflected off Li Tie's toe and Richard Wright's underarm. Between them they lanced a boil of frustration which had threatened to poison St James'.
Having conceded nine goals in their previous two games, Newcastle had again allowed in a soft, early goal, seen Everton reduced to 10 men with 70 minutes to play when Joseph Yobo was dismissed for pulling over Bellamy as he ran through on goal, and been kept at bay with some defending committed enough to move even Robson to applaud. Had they lost, it would have been Newcastle's seventh defeat of a season which yesterday afternoon was in danger of slipping horribly away. As Leeds discovered under David O'Leary, glory in the Champions' League paid for by poor Premiership form is simply too expensive.
Shearer's comments afterwards were pointed. "We had to come from behind again. We have made it hard for ourselves again," he said. "I don't know what it does for the manager's ticker but it makes it hard for us."
This was Newcastle's sixth straight league victory at St James' but it says much that in four of those matches they have had to win after falling behind to an early goal. "I told the players before the match that if they didn't concede one in the first two minutes, I would be dancing on the centre-circle," said Robson, joking between gritted teeth.
Yesterday, Newcastle proved especially resilient, waiting until the 17th minute before their defence seized up. Shay Given and both his centre-halves tried to smother a long, beautifully-struck ball from David Unsworth, aimed for Kevin Campbell. All three appeared to collapse in the same heap but were unable to prevent Campbell's boot from steering the ball through Given's legs.
When Yobo was dismissed, David Moyes did not withdraw a striker as some managers would have done, partly on the grounds that Newcastle's back four would always give Everton, even with 10 men, a chance of a second. Nevertheless, he thought the red card unwarranted. "By the rules it's a sending-off but he did not tug his jersey and he did not push him over," said Moyes. "Too many referees hide behind the laws."
Everton came within four minutes of holding out for their sixth successive 1-0 win and it was appropriate that George Graham should have been on Tyneside yesterday. Since his Arsenal side steamrollered to the title in 1991, no team has been as impressive at defending a single-goal lead.
Robson mused afterwards that if he could marry Newcastle's attack with Everton's defence, he would have a team capable of winning the championship. "Their two centre-halves ate anything in the air," he said. "Our corners and free-kicks were disappointing but I applauded the way they defended. I thought that if we can defend like that, we would win the league. Just before Alan Shearer scored, I turned to my coach, John Carver, and said it would take something special for us to break through."
It was. A header directed sideways by Shola Ameobi was met by a crashing volley, which, as it flew into the net beneath the Gallowgate End, became the first shot to beat Wright in more than 10 hours of football, during which time Everton have moved from their usual mid-table obscurity into challengers for the Champions' League.
A draw would have been fair, but Bellamy's intervention was cruelty itself. Afterwards he stood in the television arc lights and was asked how it felt to have gone from villain to hero. "Yeah, but I was a hero before," came the reply from a man who has never been weighed down by modesty.
Goals: Campbell (17) 0-1; Shearer (86) 1-1; Bellamy (89) 2-1.
Newcastle United (4-4-2): Given 4, Griffin 6, S Caldwell 5 (Viana, 81), O'Brien 4, Bernard 6, Solano 6, Dyer 7, Speed 6 (Ameobi, 81), Robert 5, Bellamy 7, Shearer 8. Substitutes not used: Jenas, Dabizas, Harper (gk).
Everton (4-4-2): Wright 7, Hibbert 6, Yobo 5, Stubbs 7, Unsworth 6, Carsley 5 (Weir 25 8), Gravesen 6, Li Tie 5, Pembridge 7, Radzinski 5 (Rooney 6, 73), Campbell 6. Substitutes not used: Naysmith, Gemmill, Simonsen (gk).
Referee: M Halsey (Birmingham) 6.
Booking: Everton: Unsworth. Sent off: Everton: Yobo.
Man of the match: Shearer.
Attendance: 51,607.
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