Town Tame Toon Boys

By: Martin Copass
Date: 13/01/2004

A young looking reserve team turned out to take on the Premiership giants from Newcastle. Despite the lack of experience in the Town line-up, they still managed to overturn their more illustrious opponents.

It was a cold afternoon, despite the brief rare appearance of the sun. Unfortunately the football didn't live up to expectations, and the fans were left to shiver in the main stand.

A slightly larger than usual turn out was present, no doubt hoping to see some ‘familiar’ faces in the Newcastle line-up, but this was not really the case though as the only players who may have been recognised were those of Carl Cort and Michael Chopra.

The first half was most disappointing, as neither side really created any real chances until David Soames opened the scoring after 33 minutes. Nick Heggarty set Soames off on a run and his fine edge of the box shot beat the keeper to just squeeze in at the far post. Jonathan Rowan came close shortly after but apart from a couple of efforts from Newcastle, both keepers had to be content with the fact their defences were keeping the opposition at bay.

The second half started quite differently, as Newcastle pressed forward at every opportunity, and Town were restricted to the occasional counter attack. Despite all their pressure, Newcastle never really looked like grabbing the equaliser, although keeper Bradley Hughes did make a fine double save from close range to deny the goal their pressure deserved.

Just when it looked like Town had weathered the storm, Newcastle equalised when Lewis Guy levelled the score, although there was a suspicion of offside about it. No one could really deny Newcastle a share of the points after their second half performance, apart from Jonathan Rowan that is! Returning from injury, he slotted the ball past the keeper with just ten minutes remaining.

This was a reasonable performance from a young Town side that held their own against their better-known opponents. The experience should benefit the younger members of the team. Jason Crowe played 70 minutes of the game after returning from suspension - this should give him the chance to join the squad for the tricky trip to Port Vale next Saturday.

Town: Hughes, Wheeler, Crowe (Smith 67), Howard, Davey, Heggarty (Chamberlain 61) , Bolder, Hildred, Ward, Rowan, Soames (Huckett 60)
Subs: Richardson, Stares.

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