Newcastle beat Villa

Newcastle took all three points last night as they saw off Aston Villa at St. James’s park.

The Toon got of to a remarkable start going two goals up within 8 minutes. James Milner opened the scoring with yet another cracking goal.

Milner struck in the 5th minute with a shot from the edge of the box and Sorensen may feel he should have done better.

Just two minutes later Milner was again involved as Newcastle doubled their lead. His cross was nodded home by Dyer who has been in great form since returning to the Newcastle side.

But if Newcastle fans thought they were in for an easy night they had another thing coming. Newcastle’s defensive frailties were again on show and despite Titus Bramble returning to the side to add some much needed height, communication between the back four was lacking.

Ashley Young pulled a goal back, scoring on his debut, lashing in from the edge of the box when Newcastle failed to clear their lines from a corner.

Villa went on to dominate much of the game and were only denied an equaliser through some top class goalkeeping from Steve Harper, and the referee’s whistle.

Carew, also making his Villa debut, nodded home in the second half, but the whistle had already gone for an infringement by the lanky striker. Some might say this decision was rather dubious.

Villa continued to press for an equaliser and, after almost 60 minutes of hanging on, Newcastle caught them on the break in injury time.

Damien Duff broke from midfield and had plenty of time to pick out Antoine Sibierski who scored past an isolated Sorenson.

Newcastle will be pleased with the result but the game as a whole does raise a few questions. Villa looked a very good side and were unlucky not to salvage at least a point. Glenn Roeder will be aware that his side won’t get away with too many displays like that.

Roeder
‘James Milner doesn’t know how to score tap-ins. He only knows how to score piledrivers.

‘He nearly joined Villa in August but we are very pleased he is still here. The fear was that he wasn’t going to get enough games, but that is quite laughable because he has now made more appearances than any other player.

‘He’s maturing all the time and is growing into the role of being a regular first team player at Newcastle.’