VENUE #84 NEWCASTLE UNITED St. James' Park

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP

Saturday 21st January 2017

St. James' Park Stadium

Ground Capacity:-  52,401

Kick Off:-  15:00

Entry Fee:-  £29 

Programme:-  30p

Venue #84

    Directions To The Ground From Railway Station

      Come out of the station, across the two zebra crossings and then head up the pedestrianised Pink Lane. Then cross Westgate Road at the top. Then up pedestrianised Bath Lane with the old city walls on your right. Turn right on to Stowell Street (Chinatown). At the end of Stowell Street bear left up St Andrews Street by Rosie’s Bar, under the ornate Chinese arch. Then left up Gallowgate. St James' is on your right.

     St. James Park

     The ground was largely rebuilt in the 1990's and is now unrecognisable from the St James' Park of old. On approaching the ground, it looks absolutely huge, as it appears to have been built on raised ground. I particularly like St James' Park as it is totally enclosed and has a great atmosphere. With the completion of the additional tier to the Milburn & Leazes (Sir John Hall) Stands in 2000, the capacity has been increased to over 52,000. These stands have a huge lower tier, with a row of executive boxes and a smaller tier above. This development has created the largest cantilever structure in Europe and has a spectacular looking roof, which allows natural light to penetrate through it (and hence is good for the pitch). However the ground now looks

somewhat imbalanced with one half of the ground being significantly larger than the other two sides. These remaining two sides the Gallowgate End and East Stand are both of the same height and are two-tired. The stadium is also totally enclosed with all four corners being filled with seating. In October 2014 a large video screen was installed on the upper side of the Sir John Hall Stand, which looks rather odd, in terms of its position. Outside the stadium is a statue of former manager Sir Bobby Robson. 

Milburn Stand

East Stand

Sir John Hall Stand

South Stand

     Today's Opponents  ROTHERHAM UNITED as Newcastle are at the top of the league at the time of writing Rotherham find themselves at the total opposite end propping all the other teams up.  Millers find themselves in another relegation battle as they did last season finishing in 21st position in the table nine points clear of the drop.  Things look considerably worse this year as we're now in the second half of the campaign and Rotherham are at the foot of the table with sixteen points and nine points adrift of Burton Albion and safety.

     Last weekend saw the Millers beat Norwich City 2-1 at the Aesseal New York Stadium and with only 20 games left till the end of the season they will be looking to get something out of their visit to St. James' Park.

      Caretaker manager Paul Warne who took over from Kenny Jacket at the end of November will be hoping to maintain a run of form not only to improve the club's league position but also to boost his chances of taking on his roll full time.  The club were to announce a new manager at the beginning of the month but are content with sticking with Warne at the moment who is being assisted by former Rotherham player John Breckin.

NEWCASTLE UNITED ... 4   ROTHERHAM UNITED ... 0

     No surprise with the final scoreline of this game although things did get off to a slow start with Newcastle content with ball possession passing along the back line and midfield and occasionally threading the ball forward or down the flanks trying to get in behind the Rotherham defence without success. 

     In fact it was Rotherham who had the first real chance of breaking the deadlock when in the 38th minute a slip from Karl Darlow let in Anthony Forde who teed up fellow forward Jerry Yates who fired a tremendous shot toward Darlow's left hand corner but the Toon keeper redeemed himself with a spectacular save at full stretch to palm the ball away from danger.  If that had of gone in then things could have been rather different for Newcastle.

     But things started to go the way of form and Daryl Murphy's goal in the third minute of injury time was rough justice on Rotherham who at least deserved to go in at half time level.  Richard Smallwood was booked for a bad foul and from the following free kick which was taken by Jonjo Shelvey to find DeAndre Yedlin who cut the ball back to Murphy to turn and hit his third goal of the season.

     Rotherham's resistance caved in as in the fourth minute of the second half the deficit doubled when a shot from Yoan Gouffran was saved by Millers keeper Richard O'Donnell but the rebound fell to Matt Ritchie to score his first of the afternoon from six yards.

     Ten minutes later and the contest was confirmed over when a cross to the near post by Yedlin was headed home by Ayoze Perez for his seventh of the season and Newcastle's third of the afternoon.

     Ritchie finished off the scoring grabbing a brace in the 77th minute Slotting home from close range and equalling Newcastle's biggest win of the season and sending the Magpies flying high at the top once more with a comfortable goal difference tally.   

                       MATCH DETAILS