Newcastle United - 2 (Shearer 40. Acuna 75.)
Crystal Palace - 0

Having missed our match on New Years Day at home to Gillingham due to weather we made our way up the highways and byways to take on the mighty Newcastle United in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. We last met Newcastle in the same round of the Cup three years ago, and it was played at the same venue. Perhaps next time they might get to visit us?

Hayden Mullins went back to being captain of the team, and he and Alan Shearer met at the centre, and it was Newcastle to get the game underway through Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy. Clinton Morrison managed to get the ball through to Julian Gray but the defence dealt fairly easily with the threat. Following a Shearer attempt the ball fell for Steve Thomson to clear upfield. The ball travelled through a number of Palace players before it finally ended up with Aki Riihilahti, who took a shot at goal that went straight into the arms of the waiting Shay Given.

At the other end Bellamy fired a shot straight at Alex Kolinko in goal and then Julian made a good run that only ended when he fell closing in on goal. Nolberto Solano took a snap chance at goal, but Alex tipped it over the top to prevent Toon taking the lead. Steve sent a good ball forward, but Clinton was marginally offside, and the chance was lost. A free kick to Palace was cleared by the defence and then David Hopkin sent in a throw that Tony Popovic got on the end of, Given just managing to keep the ball out.

The usual end-to-end play saw the Newcastle goalmouth under pressure, but then Newcastle started to flex their muscles a little. A chance came for Solano, but Tony managed to get in the way and send the ball behind for a corner. Despite the fact that he hurt he was straight back on his feet to deal with the resulting centre from the home side. Shearer nearly managed to steal in on the edge of the goal, but Palace were awake, and managed to keep him out.

Jovan ghosted into the Newcastle area, and managed to win the first corner for the visiting side, but the ball was easily headed away from the goalmouth. Sylvain Distin headed over the top following another corner before both Bellamy and Gary Speed had shots well saved by Alex back in the Palace goal. Tony then dispossessed Dyer before Clinton nearly got on the end of a ball spilled by Given at the other end. To our dismay he was flagged, and the home side breathed a little easier.

Danny Granville nearly got clear, but Steve was marginally offside which stopped the forward move. Clinton had a shot blocked that Steve got on the end of, but his shot went flying high over the top of the bar. A poor decision at the other end, following the ball hitting the elbow of Tony and a free kick being awarded, saw Shearer hitting the ball straight past Alex in goal, and the home side was ahead in the game five minutes before the half time break.

Attempts at both ends were cleared, and with only a minute added on for injuries in the first half the time quickly swept by and the players trooped off for the break with the solitary goal separating the sides.

At the end of the break the crowd was announced, being a touch over 38,000. One would imagine that will be about the biggest crowd to watch Palace play this season unless we are in the final play-off spot come the end of the year. Palace kicked off for the final 45 minutes and immediately won a free kick for a late challenge on Julian. Steve took the kick, and he laid it off to David who forced Given to push the ball behind for the corner. The ball came to Tony, but he messed up the potential for a shot, and the chance was wasted.

Palace were managing to just hang in for the match, and whilst only one goal separated the sides they were always in with a chance. Clinton actually managed to put the goal in the back of the net, but once again he was flagged, fairly late, for offside, and the "goal" did not count. Distin hit a shot just wide of the post and then Nikos Dabizas saw his header saved. Shearer then "scored" a goal in the same manner as Clinton, his header off the goal line being judged offside.

A header from Steve won a corner for Palace and the ball fell to Aki who forced Given into making a fine save to spare the blushes of the Premiership side. Hayden cut out a dangerous move from Dyer, and then Newcastle scored another "offside goal". Things were starting to look ominous for Palace.

Despite the ball being played mostly in the Palace half they were by no means out of the match, and it was not until 30 minutes had gone in the second half that the final goal came for Newcastle. Clarence Acuna managed to get the ball from a despairing Jovan, and he made no mistake firing his shot in off the crossbar to finally finish off the game. The fight was now all but gone from Palace, but they managed to hold on to the end without any further damage being done to the scoreline, despite three minutes being added on at the end.

So now we wait for next year to play another Cup match, but in the interim we can concentrate on our League position, and get on with the job of climbing up the ladder towards promotion, beginning next week at Stockport County.

Colin Pryce

Newcastle United: Shay Given, Robbie Elliott, Aaron Hughes, Sylvain Distin, Nikos Dabizas, Olivier Bernard, Nolberto Solano (Andrew O'Brien 84), Gary Speed (Clarence Acuna 54), Kieron Dyer (Lomana Lua Lua 84), Alan Shearer, Craig Bellamy.

Substitutes not used: Steve Harper, Foluwashola Ameobi.

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Tony Popovic, Hayden Mullins, Danny Granville, Kit Symons, Aki Riihilahti, Julian Gray, David Hopkin (Simon Rodger 82), Steve Thomson, Clinton Morrison, Jovan Kirovski.

Substitutes not used: Gregg Berhalter, Steve Kabba, Cedric Carasso, Craig Harrison.

Attendance: 38,089

Referee: Mr M Riley (Leeds)