Out of the traps we were in a spirited start to be completely undone by referee Rob Styles… well he certainly tried didn’t he? In his first game back after 2 games demoted for a poor penalty decision he goes and gives another. Is this guy on the take? Well it certainly did more to bring the Newcastle players together and fight with pride and passion to produce an outstanding result which could easily have been a famous 3 points against moneybags Citeh.

After a great start Man City caught us on the break in the 14th minute with Robinho through on goal Beye slid in to take the ball cleanly. Instantly Mr. Styles decided to award a penalty and send Beye off in his first game back! Great missing for 3 games we all think. Well hopefully not as Styles has decided to take another look.

And yes Robinho put the penalty away…

Well it did nothing to silence the crowd and lifted the players to sweat blood and tears. We made Man City look rather average for all their multi million pound signings as we knocked the ball around to create a few changes the best falling to Damien Duff he shot tamely at Hart.

Shortly laterly some deserved luck after a couple of ricochets put Ameobi in to slice past Hart to end a 2 year goal drought. The relief was plain for all to see. Perhaps this could be the start of Shola kicking back into some form at an important time. Shola went on to have a great game for the Toon.

Shortly after the break we continued to dominate and got our rewards after a corner results in Dunne smashing through his own net. Naturally though as the game went on we got deeper and even though we defended well our legs looked tired and we got caught out as we couldn’t hold onto the ball in midfield.

Ireland was put through with a lovely ball from Robinho 3 minutes from time to slot to past Shay and into the back of the net. The signs certainly were their as Shay had kept out Man City’s best player moments earlier with a superb one handed save.

We managed to hand on for the point but Ireland almost got the winner immediately after. It would have been undeserved though and in all honestly Newcastle probably deserved all 3.

A night when most fans went away overjoyed with the performance albeit not the right result. If they continue in this reign of form of playing for each other, the shirt and the fans it won’t be long until we are out of danger whilst continuing to win over the fans. JFK’s stock is rising…