Well, there it is, then! Welcome to my first Premiership match between Newcastle United and Aston Villa. I was joined by 50,000 fellow Geordies for a fine display of English football. Naturally, my flatmate Monika and I started with a pint of John Smith’s Ale at our local pub, The Lonsdale.
A short Metro (train) ride and we joined the throngs headed for St James Park.
Our student tickets were not well marked, so we walked around the stadium a bit, taking in the sights… and security was quite tight, as you can see (who could outrun a horse after a few pints, anyway?)
We finally made it inside just as kickoff were about to occur, and found our seats.
It’s a good thing we were on time for the match, since Newcastle struck early in the 5th minute on a cracker goal by James Milner. Beating two defenders at the top of the box, he let loose an 18 meter blast into the upper left hand corner, denting the nets for first blood. Just two minutes later, Kieron Dyer nodded nifty header just inside the far post to double the Magpie’s early lead. Aston Villa cut the lead to one in the 25th minute after a wild flurry following a corner kick, with Ashley Young finishing strong for Villa.
Villa seemed encouraged by their success, and pressured the Newcastle defense with repeated opportunities throughout the remainder of the half, but were unable to equalize. Both squads knocked shots off of the pipes, but the score remained 2-1 until the half. That’s when I made my first tactical error…
I fancied a pie and a pint… but didn’t get enough details on the steak pie, which was actually a steak and kidney pie. It was quite warm, at least, which was welcome on the chilly evening… so I managed to scarf it down, and chase it with a Fosters... gave me the wind something terrible as well (which fortunately was also warming).
Newcastle defended well to protect their lead in the 2nd half, and added an insurance goal in extra time for a 3-1 victory, which moves them up from 12th to 9th in the Premiership table. And it was quite a lovely first match the foreign exchange students!
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