Benwell Lad

FFS was looking forward to this as well.

It probably been overshadowed by the subsequent rugby tackle and not getting a red card but how atrocious was his goalkeeping from Ritchie's cross ?

Someone posted a link to an article, I think from The Times, which explained the reasons he needed to be closer to family in the south. It's a good read and showed him up as a great lad who has been through a lot recently. He loves being at NUFC but is in a difficult situation after his daughter's birth and they need a lot of support from family.

A strange, peculiar absence of NUFC stuff on RTG today and you just know how it would have looked if Everton's goalkeeper had a brain and they'd managed to hold on

Pretty much everything went against in the game aside from our winner. Even the penalty wasn’t done correctly 100%, right from not sending Pickford off, not giving a re-take for him coming off the line. Even on throw ins we had to take ours at the exact spot the ball went out at, and Everton were allowed to steal 5-10 yards, and even then we didn’t get a lot of them that we should have. The referee was awful throughout, and in the 2nd half we got a couple of free kicks which was more an appeasement effort than anything. Despite the goal being offside, Everton can’t complain because overall they had a massive advantage throughout the game. That was very noticeable yesterday and I heard several people commenting about it.

In those 15 or 20 minutes yesterday he demonstrated once again that there are few better passers of the ball than him.

Narrow nail biting wins have become the norm for us lately, and while I'd rather be cruising, those final few minutes where throw-ins and wild clearances into nowhere are cheered like goals are quite amazing.

It really has become like when Ayoze plays well the team plays well. Little wonder he has started more games under Rafa than any other player.

Ritchie clearly has some sort of a personal hatred for him now. A few times Miggy just threw his arms up in the air, asking WTF? I actually think that he resents him because he has all the quality that he doesn’t have and wishes he does have. Yeah, he's a professional footballer, and one of our most dedicated player, I highly doubt this is the case. It is just silly to imply that. Almiron is an exceptional talent who's directness and pace will be a great asset to us. Ritchie is a very experienced senior pro who's game is more pragmatic. We need both sides.

Aye, but Whickham only pay about 20 quid a game, what do you expect ? At least they've got their FA Vase final to look forward to

A comeback win was the best thing today but Pickford being shown up for the total fraud he is just made it so much better. An occasional worldie save seems to mask his awful distribution and decision making.

It's insane that he is criticised for occasionally losing the ball when he has probably been involved in more match turning /winning situations than anyone for a long, long time.

Jordan Pickford man :lol: Utter fraud.

The County Durham thing is just another part of the collective chip on the mackem shoulder which likes to imagine that the Geordie Nayshun manipulated north-east football supporters and years ago everyone in County Durham supported Sunderland. Large parts of County Durham have always been predominantly black and white, other parts 50/50 and some parts mainly red and white. Most people in County Durham see Newcastle as "their" city which they use for leisure, shopping, culture and transport links etc, not Sunderland. The cities of Durham and Newcastle have always had close academic and cultural ties. It's open to debate but I'd think that around 50% of Newcastle's support comes from south of the Tyne, i.e. what was once County Durham. Durham very much deserves to be mentioned on the new mega flag.

Does anyone other than fans of the two teams involved are even know it's happening There was zero national coverage or awareness of the semi-finals.

In the last decade they have only got anywhere near filling their stadium when Newcastle United or Take That were on the bill. They had the highest number of empty seats per game year after year in the PL, they carried that on in the 2nd division and most likely they'll do the same this season in the 3rd division. They're currently having a gimmicky season but once the dust settles they'll be back to their miserable, bickering selves.

Time to forget the traditional rivalry and all get behind one of the region's smaller teams in exactly the same way we would if Gateshead or Spennymoor were going for the FA trophy, or Dunston or Hebburn were going for the Vase.

They'll have to allow about 30 minutes for a penalty if they're going to read it to the letter of the law

Tweaking it to stop the common situation of ten or more players already in the box before it's kicked could be a good idea. Some means to keep the other 20 players on the pitch further away from the ball ??

For the first time in ages the region won't have a team in the FA Vase final so it's nice to see one of our lower league sides having a tilt at the minor competitions. I assume the better lower league sides like Luton and Barnsley didn't take this too seriously ?

They love talking about their "branches" like Can't just go to the match like fans of other clubs, they have to join up together in these branches they go on about. Mind for all their vast numbers of branches there weren't many to be seen at away games last season when they were most needed.

It was less than 12 months ago that they virtually deserted their team in vital away and home relegation matches but now "our fans" have been elevated to being something special On a different note, the other day on the daily TV thread they have over there one dimwit said that the "Canarian derby" between Tenerife and Mallorca should be a tasty affair They really are a special breed.

Los tres amigos. Me gustan.

Things can change quickly but for this to happen a monumental collapse would be needed, can’t see it. I read one of them say they play shite against the “meathead” teams, full of self importance those fuckers mind. If you look at form for the Marras and the teams just below the 6, its very tight projected over the remaining fixtures. They got some really fortunate breaks when they were winning games, 2 in a row where the opposition scored goals which were wrongly disallowed and would have changed the result and a few others they were lucky to win. Overall they've never looked particularly convincing and to get promotion you really need to win most of your games.

Most of us will probably admit that the first time we saw the Hayden/Longstaff pairing named we were very concerned, but there's no doubt the pair have performed way above what anyone expected during a very difficult run. Can't be anyone with black and white blood who isn't immensely proud of what Longstaff has achieved. They'll still be out when the others are all fit but shouldn't be too concerned, like our central defender strength in depth they'll all be needed over a season. Just a shame we couldn't get ourselves into a decent position by January so they can all be used to cover a busy league and cup schedule.