Why there was such a large police presence at the top of the stairs in St. James' Park is beyond me. The energy sapping fourteen flights of stairs rendered me in no fit condition to speak, let alone raise a fist in anger at anybody! Maybe I need to start pounding the streets a little more, to increase my fitness levels!
My seat was fine, the view excellent(if being God knows how high can be classed as excellent!). The performance was a treat to watch. The effort shown by everyone deserved better than a single goal victory and the turning point had to be Myhill's brilliant save from Owen's free header after half an hour, whence we duly took the lead three minutes later.
Fagan's constant running, chasing, harrying was a joy to behold and King showed his true worth with an outstanding effort. Halmosi and Mendy fitted in as though they had been there a while, rather than making their first league starts, whilst defensively, Turner and Gardner were quite exceptional. Two weeks ago, with the spine of our side ripped out v Wigan, it was mentioned how much we missed Boateng in the middle. I agreed, but he wasn't there again today and we didn't miss him. Now our squad strength is starting to show, with Cousin available next week, and probably Boateng and Geovanni on the bench.
Overall, Phil Brown probably surprised a few people with his selection today, but yet again, he got it spot on and I for one, will not forget this day for a long time, if ever, as we trudge our confident way through our first ever Premier League season.