Match Reports
Newcastle 0-2 Liverpool Liverpool won a hard fought out victory to move them back into the top five of the Premiership. The visitors made an excellent start, with Riise scoring after only 2 minutes following a mistake by Newcastle. It then took Newcastle only a minute to respond to the goal, but Solano's effort was fired over the crossbar from the edge of the 18 yard area. The game was very open throughout, with both sides constantly going forward, but being let down often by the final ball. But it took a quarter of an hour for Newcastle to create their first great chance and it fell to Craig Bellamy after a good cross by Robert and an even better Dummy by Shearer to allow the ball to reach Bellamy, but his header from only 6 yards out was disappointingly headed straight at Dudek. Then, at the other end just a couple of minutes later, Robbie Fowler was presented with a great chance to double Liverpool's lead but Shay Given made a good save top keep the score at 1-0. A shot by Laurent Robert which was hit straight at the Liverpool 'keeper, and a wild shot in the last minute by Bellamy which was was well off target, completed the main action of the first half. The second half began in a similar fahion as the first, with the ball in the Newcastle goal after a couple of minutes of the start, but Robbie Fowler's goal was disallowed for a marginal offside from Emile Heskey's through ball. Heskey himself then looked set to go through on goal but his touch let him down and he lost control of the ball, and within 5 minutes of the restart, Danny Murphy turned well on the edge of the area but his final finish was struck across the goal. The goal chances became fewer through the rest of the half though, with Liverpool's only real opportunities in the next half an hour falling to Robbie Fowler, who struck a free kick over the bar from just outside the box. But when the game looked set to be heading for a 1-0 result in favour of the Reds, Robbie Fowler and Danny Murphy combined well to create a second goal in the last 4 minutes and make absolutely sure of the win, with Murphy the man to add the final touch to the move. The win extends Liverpool's unbeaten run to 6 games, and they have not conceded a goal since the fifth minute of the derby, 5 games ago.
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