The first Tyne-Wear derby for a couple of years proved to be one Steve Bruce will want to forget in a hurry as Kevin Nolan, subject of our Watchlist article early last week, bagged a hat-trick as Newcastle ran out 5-1 winners to record their best Premier League win over North East rivals Sunderland.
Despite conceding only 7 league goals in their opening 9 games and coming into the game on a seven-match unbeaten run, Sunderland were overwhelmed by wave after wave of Magpies attacks and were simply blown away.
With a 4-4-2 formation working favourably for Newcastle in last weekend’s win at West Ham, Chris Hughton chose to keep with a winning system, meaning Shola Ameobi retained his place up front alongside Andy Carroll. Ameobi repaid Hughton’s faith in him with Newcastle’s other two goals in the rout though Carroll, with two assists, played a huge part with a performance that terrorised Sunderland’s back four throughout.
Bruce, a born Geordie, added fuel to the fire of today’s game by admitting he‘d rejected the chance to be Newcastle boss before:
I turned it down because it was not right. There was compensation and it wasn’t right. I turned it down twice.
Rather than celebrate the historic win of his childhood club, Bruce will now, instead, be trying to pick up the morale of their near neighbours after a display that also saw Titus Bramble sent off with Sunderland already 3-0 down.
In contrast, Kevin Nolan, now up to third highest-scoring midfielder in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), was overjoyed with a result that saw Newcastle leap to seventh in the table, saying:
Obviously it’s fantastic. We knew it would be tough – and I think it was. I think we got lucky with a couple of the goals. We’re delighted, we’ve worked so hard this week and it’s paid off today. I made my debut against these (Sunderland) and to score a hat-trick will live with me forever. It’s unbelievable. I’m delighted for the fans.
Newcastle’s recent St James’ Park form has been something of a source of frustration for the Geordie faithful but, with their first home win since August, they couldn’t have picked a better game to reinforce their credentials in front of an overjoyed Toon Army.
