Newcastle United kicked off their festive programme with an
early present for their fans, a 3-1 win over Tottenham
Hotspur.
Martin Jol's side never recovered after conceding two early goals
at St James' Park, with Kieron Dyer and Obafemi Martins giving
Glenn Roeder's side the perfect start.
Danny Murphy pulled one back for Spurs, but the Londoners never
recovered after Scott Parker netted a third for the home
side.
The afternoon hadn't started well for in-form Tottenham. Jol lost
key man Jermain Defoe to a warm-up injury, the ten-goal striker
limping off with a knee problem to be replaced by Murphy in the
starting line-up.
And things did not get any better for Spurs when the game kicked
off, with Jol's side conceding two soft goals inside the first
seven minutes to give themselves a mountain to climb.
With just three minutes on the clock Nolberto Solano - playing at
right-back in the absence of former Spurs defender Stephen Carr -
cleared the ball upfield to Martins, who quickly sent makeshift
striker Dyer away.
Visiting captain Ledley King stood off and Dyer picked his spot for
his second goal of the season, tucking the ball neatly between Paul
Robinson and his left-hand post.
Dyer's other goal had come against Spurs' north London rivals
Arsenal in November's visit to the Emirates Stadium.
Four minutes later Roeder's buoyant side were 2-0 up. James Milner
played the ball inside to Parker, who clipped to ball to Martins
and he lost his marker Pascal Chimbonda to head home his ninth goal
of the campaign.
United, however, didn't have it all their own way. By the 15th
minute Tottenham had halved the deficit after a Murphy shot beat
Shay Given, after taking a deflection off Steven Taylor.
Chimbonda broke down the right and crossed into the United box, and
after Steed Malbranque failed to connect properly with an attempted
overhead kick, Defoe's late replacement Murphy was there to direct
the ball into the net off the chest of Taylor.
Newcastle almost restored their two-goal advantage five minutes
later, but Dyer could not get out of the way of Nicky Butt's
goalbound header.
Then - on the half-hour mark - Dyer powered into a crowded Spurs
box from the right before firing a fierce shot from a tight angle
which crashed against the nearside post. Their third goal, however
wasn't long in coming.
And it came from Parker in front of the watching England coach
Steve McClaren, with United's captain eventually heading the ball
over the line after an almighty goalmouth scramble.
Milner's deep free-kick from the left was initially spilled by
Robinson - whose afternoon was going from bad to worse - and Taylor
was the first Newcastle player to react with the ball rebounding to
Martins, whose effort was blocked.
The ball bounced for Parker to head home the sixth goal of his St
James' Park career.
Two minutes into the second half Dimitar Berbatov flashed a shot
narrowly wide as Tottenham attempted to find a way back into the
game.
Shortly after the Berbatov chance, Given suffered what looked a
hamstring injury, and Roeder sent Pavel Srnicek out to warm up.
However, Given - careful to avoid eye contact with his bench -
played on, with Peter Ramage taking his goal kicks.
And when Roeder made his first change, it wasn't Given coming
off.
Instead, Antoine Sibierski replaced Emre in the 66th minute, while
Jol brought on striker Mido for midfielder Didier Zokora as he
looked to beef up his attack.
On-loan striker Giuseppe Rossi followed Sibierski on to the pitch
in the 77th minute, with the appearance his last for Newcastle at
St James' Park before he returns to Manchester United at the end of
the month after a half-season spell on Tyneside.
And it was a memorable afternoon for fans favourite Srnicek in
particular, who replaced Given in the 88th minute to make the first
appearance of his second spell at the club.
Roeder said after the win: "I'm pleased with the result, and
pleased with the performance in parts.
"People need to understand how difficult it was to achieve that
result under the circumstances we've been playing under for the
last ten weeks. I can't give the whole squad enough credit.
"Ten or 12 weeks ago we were not in a good position, we were
looking over our shoulders. Now we're looking above us.
"It's a fantastic achievement. The players haven't buckled under
the amount of injuries.
Spurs head coach Jol added: "We were 2-0 down after seven minutes
and that's exactly what you don't want.
"All credit to them, because they played in a very aggressive
manner. They were clinical in the centre of the park, and if you
are clinical, that's a big advantage.
"But I felt they didn't play better than us. They showed us a lot
of respect and we could have taken advantage of that. We were not
clinical enough."