Almost 50,000 Newcastle United fans sitting inside St James’ Park.
I was one of them.
Joe Willock and Lewis Hall with the goals as United roared into a two goal lead inside seven minutes.
What a response to the defeat at Elland Road only five days earlier.
Newcastle United totally in control and Hull City a distant second best as Matthias Jaissle’s team worked the ball around the pitch. Surely only a case of when, not if, the third goal would come along and complete a mauling of the Tigers.
A lot of great situations, chances created, then finally a penalty on the stroke of half-time to make the game totally safe and the knockout blow for a Hull City team that were floundering on the ropes.
As we all know, Yoane Wissa with not the greatest of spot-kicks and a very good save from the Hull keeper.
To their credit, Newcastle United came out for the second half and continued in the same vein, United well on top and looking only a matter of time before we could all totally relax when it went to 3-0.
With 25 minutes of normal time remaining, it almost arrived. Sean Steur had been exceptional and he played a key role in setting up a chance but it was wasted by a teammate (my memory has gone a bit on who that was…) and instead of celebrating a killer third goal, the Dutch midfielder was instead helped off the pitch as his exertions caught up with him and he cramped up.
Matthias Jaissle then looking at his severely injury impacted bench. Of the eight outfield subs only one had started a Premier League match ever, five hadn’t played a single minute, whilst two had managed some sub appearances.
The manager felt he had little choice but to replace the key 18-year-old midfielder with veteran central defender Fabian Schar and that led to a major reshuffle of the team and formation. Whilst Newcastle were still coming to terms with those changes, Hull City halved the deficit within what felt like seconds of the substitution and it was now game on.
A tiring United team now on the back foot and such limited options on the bench. Then speedster Matias Fernandez-Pardo also succumbed to cramp and his incredible sprinting to close down the opposition was lost, another enforced reorganisation with Bazoumana Toure coming on. The only other option on the bench with any previous first team minutes, recent signing 20-year-old Aladji Bamba was the final sub made by NUFC as he replaced Joe Willock, although any number of Newcastle players could have been replaced as they looked knackered after what they had put into the match.
This was it.
When this means so much is Newcastle United good for your health?
The final stages of this Hull City match were absolute torture for Newcastle United fans. You can only imagine what Matthias Jaissle was feeling at the side of the pitch…
Photo by The Mag
Whatever happened in those final minutes of the Hull City match would dictate my mood and that of hundreds of thousands of others for the next three weeks, 23 days to be precise. This ridiculous never ending international break seeing a gap of 23 days from Hull at home to Coventry away.
If Hull grab an equaliser which they clearly didn’t deserve on the overall match, it would feel like a victory for the travelling supporters and it would feel like a defeat for the Newcastle United fans having seen their side go two goals up and dominate for over an hour.
As for how it would impact on myself and other Newcastle fans the next 3+ weeks if Hull grabbed a couple of late goals and United lost…
How do you explain to non-football fans just how much something like this can dictate your entire mood for the best part of a month? Remember, this isn’t a cup final, it isn’t a Champions League qualification clincher, it is a run of the mill fifth Premier League match of the season with simply three points at stake.
As we all know, the team defended brilliantly and the final whistle blew to huge relief.
Every day since that 2-1 win over Hull City, I experience moments every day when I feel happy before I realise why. The three points mean that we are all looking up the table rather than down. We are all thinking that if a win at Coventry can be added then just how healthy that table will look, rather than feeling that a victory at Coventry will be needed just to get us into the top half of the table.
All I can say is that the non-football supporters in my family are especially grateful for that last ditch defending in the final minutes that kept the lead intact. They know from past experience just how badly it can impact on my mood when things go wrong in 90+ minutes of football. They can’t comprehend why blokes kicking a ball around a field should lead to 23 days of joy and smiles, rather than 23 days of misery and foul moods. Experience tells them though that this is the reality and I bet that just like me they were willing the team to hang on in the final stages of the Hull game, so that we can all enjoy more than three weeks of family time as we wait for it all to kick off again…