Paullow

He was actually sent off before half time. Wow, that makes the comensxk even more impressive, especially as it was pre takeover City.

Pretty sure Joey Barton scored in that Man City comeback vs Spurs, but ITV obviously weren't going to mention him, ha.

Ipswich!

I think they'd prefer a SJP match in late March / April and try and get like 30,000+ there rather than when it's potentially snowing / storms in mid January and maybe get like 12,000 if they are lucky, which would still be a great attendance for the league / level, but would look, and be, so much better in a pretty full looking stadium when far more fair weather fans would be interested. Looking at past NUW matches at SJP, they seem to like planning 5 weeks in advance. We beat Forest in November (actually at the City Ground) and in early December their league record was P7 W4 L3, and were already 10 points behind us, plus we had also beat them 3-0 at home in the League Cup, so wouldn't have felt as much of a bigger game when in prepping and planning mode. I really hope they have a match at SJP this season, and would be very disappointed if they didn't, but travelling from rural Northumberland, with an online stream available, I personally wouldn't have gone today had it have been at SJP.

I think a large part of that comes from many accepting that this season will likely just fizzle out regardless of whether we have Tripps or not. He'll have like 18 months max at a high level, and if 6 of those are possibly in a petering out season, and he'll be more rotating next season / drop off given his age, then it starts to look like OK business. I also reckon his form from early December onwards softens the blow to many. If he was absolutely at the top of his game, in top top form then it would hurt more, but the multiple errors are probably at the forefront of many minds. It won't just be £15m either, it will be one of the highest earners off the wage bill, allowing more wriggle room elsewhere in that department, for players who are likely to be here longer term. That all said, it would be a shame if he left since he has been so imperative since he came in, but I can see why he would want to go at this stage, and that, along with all of the above, I would be OK if he were to leave this month, and wish him well.

A Bournemouth win obviously won't define out season, and if they did finish above us and we finished 10th instead of 9th (or worse) then it's not that significant, and I wouldn't mind Bmouth winning, but purely from a 'better for Newcastle POV', we are clearly going to finish closer to them than Liverpool, and that would have sounded crazy just 6 or 7 weeks ago when we beat Man Utd and were 14 clear of Bmouth and only 2 behind Liverpool. Bmouth will be only a point behind with a game in hand if they do win today. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67528611

Na, Newcastle are the only professional team in the third tier. I think I read Burnley have a few full time players in their squad (not sure how that would work though...), but not sure about Forest. Forest, Wolves, and Burnley were all clear at the top of the league last season, but none of them went up (evidently).

Yeah, both will have a few games where they can definitely drop points, we still have to play Wolves home and away, but defeats are massive when it's only a 22 game season and many of the fixtures will be routine wins for the clearly superior side. Aye, Galloway does get a few goals, as you would expect from the main striker often playing against much poorer teams, but I know what you mean. It does feel like we could do better. They've brought 2 new strikers in, one likely to replace Ferguson who has a bad injury, but not sure if they'll be a case of coming in where they really should be at a higher level, as is the case with one or two they brought in over the summer.

Had 3 very good chances at the end, but not to be. Probably going to have to win at Burnley now.

Looking a bit better these past 10 mins. Half a chance there, and now have a corner.

3,361 there today. Forest had a really good spell there for about 5 mins, had about 3 corners, hit the bar, and a lot of pressure. You obviously want them to win, but at the same time, it is quite nice to see an actual competitive match, instead of it mainly just being a case of how many they'll win by.

Raisbeck the main commentator today. Ahead after 4 mins, Gibson.

Boddy must still be struggling with that injury she's been nursing for a while, unless she's ill / otherwise unavailable. New signing Lumsden on the bench, as well as fairly new signing Gears, so that's like 3 attackers from the 5 subs.

Preston lead Leeds after only a minute. Leeds unbeaten in their 13 home league matches this season, and Preston were 8/1. Best thing to happen from a neutral perspective. Edit - 1-1 after less than 6 mins

Alex Bruce's Macclesfield (phoenix club of the old Macclesfield Town), currently in the 7th tier, have attracted impressive attendances of 3,103, 4201, 3,245 and 4,002 in their last 4 leagues games - they've taken only one point

Always liked that Carvalho

Gerrin, marra!

Luke Onion is worse than Ric Flair. Lying on the floor for ages, ball suddenly comes near him and he's up like a flash chasing it

5 yellow cards now for Hull and not even half time.

They've signed a goalkeeper, but possibly not one to go straight into the first team?

Ha, mind that is for a top 2 finish and not promotion, as otherwise I'd definitely be having a few quid on the red and white Brazil https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/championship/promotion You can get 16/1 for them to be promoted at Bet365, which is a lot higher than their modal price of 9 or 10/1 pretty much everywhere else, so could be worth an 'insurance' bet for those who like to do that.

The Northern Premier League East makes for good reading for the 6 former recent Northern League sides, with teams currently sitting in 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th, and many of them with decent chances of promotion / playoffs. It is kind of bittersweet wanting these local sides to do well - if 2 came up every year, and there's a net gain of 2 NE teams each year, then the league will soon look like a newer Northern League and would be really good for travel, derbies, and increasing attendances, but we've seen so many teams struggle massively readjusting to the new higher level. Back in the day you had the likes of Newcastle Blue Star and Durham City compete in the higher league before suffering financially, leaving the league, and the latter are still on a massive downward spiral, then you see North Shields last year, and obviously Marske this year and it kind of all feels a bit pointless. You want a team to compete at a higher level as possible and a path to a higher level at least there, but for some it's like 1 or 2 steps forward, then 3 or 4 steps back. Interesting that the Northern League has a playoff system this year for the 2nd promotion spot (and there's no inter-region playoff this year), so I guess teams could look to finish as high as they can in the league, and then potentially ease off in the playoffs and let the team best placed for a higher level come through the playoffs.

Top 4 are all like 1/250 to make the top 6, so realistically there are 2 spots available. Bookies have WBA odds on to make the playoffs, and have Sunderland, Middlesbrough, and Coventry in a little pack, all around the same odds. Hull, Watford, and Norwich a little further back, and then the rest massive long shots, so hopefully WBA, Coventry and Boro maintain or pick up (in the latters case) in the coming weeks. Big match for Sunderland at home to Hull on Friday. I guess Hull's odds would be similar to Sunderland at full time if they were to win.

9 WSL teams through to the last 16, the 3 teams in that league who lost are currently 9th, 11th, and 12th and all lost to fellow WSL sides above them in the table. 5 Championship sides through as well as both Nottingham Forest and Wolves in our league. Wolves won away at Reading who are currently 3rd bottom in the 2nd tier in the only real 'shock' of the round. Burnley took 2nd tier leaders Birmingham to extra time, but lost 1-3, so the top of the table Burnley vs Newcastle clash should still take place on Feb 11th (unless the League Cup affects that date). We play Wolves on Feb 4th, so they might have the FA Cup on their mind then, but it will still be a week away.

Burnley are currently trailing 0-1 at home to Championship Birmingham, who are in great form, that match just started at 2pm though.