By Mark Deeks
August 30 2002

Well we could start to dream before this one couldn't we? A gem of a finish from the little magician KD in lands afar had given us one foot in the door as they say. (Shame about his finishing in lands a'Manc but nevermind....) MATCH 3.
TOON 4 vs Zeljeznicar 0.
HOME. WEDNESDAY 28TH AUGUST.

Well we could start to dream before this one couldn't we? A gem of a finish from the little magician KD in lands afar had given us one foot in the door as they say. (Shame about his finishing in lands a'Manc but nevermind....)

I travelled early today. You see I'm still off work. The life of a teacher. Not fair is it? The only perk of the job I can assure you. There were no motoring troubles, no fantastically conceived alternate roots this time. (see column 1).

But yes. Scotch egg on the folks' dinner table. You see when I was a young teen, traipsing off the to the Milburn Paddocks for my first few games on my own, me' mam always used to make scotch eggs for dinner. Cos... well... it was a lucky dinner, wasn't it? (No I'm not sure how it started either). And ever since, it's kinda become a tradition in our house. So when I arrived on Wednesday, dreaming of a rasping 30yrd Viana Champs League winner past Barthez's despairing grasp next May at Old Trafford, there it was. Scotch egg. And curried rice... (but that's another story!...)

And it tasted great. And I knew that the boys'd be
fine. No matter what the previous night's cold sweats had told me!

And then the match.

The good bits: Dyer's finshing boots being relocated to his feet rather than the boot of his mother's Land Rover. Tinky Winky giving his 3rd gymanstic display of the season at the NW corner! The Boss Man's tireless workrate (are you watching Robert), as well as class passing and thunderous finish. Super Al getting in on the act. The reception given to Zelcbvbfsfghsrhkvhskls's substitutions and fans. Sir Bob punching the air in delight when retrieving a late stray ball.

The bad bits: 34,000. WHAT? I have to say that I was very disappointed in the crowd size. I know all the arguments about being on TV (although to me that should always = a bigger crowd so we can show the world etc.. but that's another argument), the fact that the £25 ticket price was maybe a bit high and people were saving for the big games... BUT THIS WAS A BIG GAME!! Imagine how the stayaway's would have felt if the worst scenario had happened. Guilty? I hope so.


Also, what about those dastardly Bosnian's tendency to go down and stay down? I would have expected a bit more grit all things considered but anyway...And who could forget the circus football result from Elland
Road....

But anyway, all in all, a great result. Job done. And the draw for the first round proper? Juventus,
Feyenoord and Dynamo Kiev. If the people on Sky Sports had said "poor old Newcastle" one more time I was going to scream. It's a great draw. Very good teams all three of'em, but then what did you expect? But not the real scorchers they could have been. Put it this way, we nearly got Bayern Munich, Deportivo and AC Milan. Then maybe there would have been a bit of "poor old Newcastle" about it! But we didn't. We're in a with a shout lads'n'lasses. Not a big one, but a
bit.

There's something there to get our teeth stuck into, so let's have a go. Full house next time please and let's roar the boys home!!