Newcastle [relegation] Watch

What a fantastic day. As a Newcastle supporter, these days have been hard to come by so please forgive me just a bit of a gloat.

First off, let me set the stage by saying FSC had the match on replay today - and I hate these days. I can't go to any sort of football media outlet because I'll ruin the surprise of watching the game later and I just hate that. And then, once I do watch it A) we usually lose, meaning I've wasted all this time not checking any news, etc, just to watch a boring, miserable game and B) whether we win or lose, by the time I go on to my favorite NUFC blog sites to read all the other supporters' opinions, they're either off to bed or enjoying themselves in a bar somewhere with other Newcastle supporters and I'm here alone by a computer. Yipee.

But today, Mrs. Architectureandfootball and I had quite a household craft project to complete, so that, along with some movie watching took up all of my attention so not looking at the news wasn't too hard. Then, once the match started, it was off.

First, KK puts out the same side as the last two games. I love this. I don't necessarily agree with every assignment he's made, but this is great for two reasons - 1) he's giving the team some balance, some stability, that some managers (Allardyce) never achieve. and 2) he's playing a 4-3-3 (three strikers) AWAY FROM HOME. He's going into London, against one of the hottest clubs in England, the club who just recently won the Carling Cup - and he's TRYING TO ACTUALLY WIN IT. Not just squeek out a boring 0-0 draw. He's trying to score goals.

So we start the match positive, with Beye shooting once off the crossbar. We maintain a majority of the possession, and while I couldn't say we were dominating, I was quite pleased with the performance from the boys, being away from home. We give up a goal to Bent (horrible defense in letting the cross come in uncontested, but a spectacular header to finish it) but the lads keep on with it and continue going for chances. Then, of all people, Nicky Butt hits in a fairly easy looking shot in stoppage time in the first half. And right here I have to say - Nicky Butt, as much slack as I've given him, has probably been one of the main reasons we've played so well the last three games. He was my man of the match today, and honestly, recently we've been living and dying by Nicky Butt. As his game comes and goes, so goes Newcastle's. And today he was immense, pure and simple.

Second half comes, we show no signs of slowing down and after a foul just outside the box, Geremi takes advantage of some sloppy wall work by the Spurs defense and puts in an easy goal to ACTUALLY TAKE THE LEAD. Later, Owen scores a fantastic goal set up by Barton (who was great today) and a clever Viduka dummy. Owen has really come on as of late and has shown what a classy guy and player he is by really turning it on once he has been given the captain's armband. He hasn't showed as much as any one would have hoped, but with all the injuries he's had, and with the poor offensive displays shown by Allardyce, I think Owen is showing now that he loves playing and scoring goals and this team has REALLY started to gel as of late with him in charge. Then finally, to finish it off, my boy Obafemi Martins put in a stellar goal and you could CLEARLY see his relief and joy at scoring his first goal in a LONG time.

It was a great match by every single player on the pitch, barring Alan Smith who came on in the 78th minute(poor as always) and maybe Jose-Enrique, who still stupifies me sometimes. He's a great physical specimen who clearly has skill and potential, it just seems that his head isn't there sometimes. But we were able to get both Carrol and Edgar on in the end, and all the Geordies love our young kids (and what a talented bunch we've got at the moment...very exciting).

So now we're 9 points clear of the drop - looks like we'll be staying in so it's time to slowly start thinking about this off season!!

Other stuff -

For the first time EVER all #1 seeds have made it to the final four of the ncaa college basketball tourney. I think I'm still in first place in my pool, but not totally sure. It's strang that all 1 seeds made it, considering how horizontal the field was this year. GO KANSAS!!

Also - Saturday night we went to this amazing Polish restaurant called Szalas for dinner with some friends fromwork. Absolutely unbelievable food. I'm thinking of changing this blog to Architecture and Football and Food - because food is an incredibly important part of my life as well - and I think I put a lot of time and effort in my passion for it. I could offer reviews of recipes or restaurants that we go to and hopefully widen it up a bit - as most readers care nought about my beloved NUFC. Any thoughts on this?