Premier League - Barton returns as Newcastle win

Eurosport - Wed, 29 Oct 08:29:00 2008

Joey Barton marked his return to the Newcastle starting line-up with the first goal in a 2-1 Premier League win over West Brom at St James' Park.

FOOTBALL 2008/09 Premier League Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton celebrates scoring against West Brom - 0

The controversial midfielder netted from the penalty spot after nine minutes before Obafemi Martins doubled the hosts' advantage just before the half-time whistle.

West Brom substitute Ishmael Miller swooped on 65 minutes to give the Baggies hope, but despite some nervy final moments, Newcastle held on to hand Joe Kinnear his first win since taking over as interim manager - and the Magpies their first victory in over two months.

The result saw Newcastle climb a provisional 15th place as the remaining 18 Premier League teams are not in action until Wednesday.

With Barton making his first start since serving a prison sentence - and considering his controversial badge-kissing antics while warming up at Sunderland at the weekend - all eyes were on the midfielder from the moment he emerged from the tunnel.

But it was Shola Ameobi who caught the eye most in the opening exchanges, the striker first latching onto a clever Damien Duff pass in just the second minute, only to see his attempted dink over Scott Carson fail to reach its intended target.

Ameobi was again involved moments later, flicking on to Martins whose slightly deflected shot forced Carson into a smart save.

But Barton refuses to be out of the spotlight for long and he was soon back on headline-making duty, thankfully this time for the right reasons.

Ameobi was tripped in the box by Ryan Donk and referee Mike Dean had no choice but to point to the spot, handing Barton the chance to make his return to the starting line-up a scoring one.

He kept his cool, sending Carson the wrong way to register his first goal of the season and put his side one up.

But following the weekend's furore, this time Barton opted not to kiss his badge, preferring instead to beat his chest in celebration. Needless to say, St James' erupted, although not quite in the same manner as the Stadium of Light had three days earlier.

Barton then fired wide from outside the box before Habib Beye blazed over the bar from Ameobi's cut-back. In between those chances, James Morrison was denied an equaliser by a fine Shay Given save having been put through on goal by Borja Valero.

Morrison was left to rue that miss as Martins doubled the Magpies' advantage on 42 minutes. The Nigerian took advantage of some slack West Brom marking to plant a firm standing header from Beye's cross past Carson.

Two further chances fell Morrison's way soon after the restart - one shot was blocked, the other flew over the bar - as West Brom pushed forward with more purpose than during the opening period.

And Tony Mowbray's side were rewarded on 65 minutes when Miller - on as a 54th minute substitute for Chris Brunt as the Baggies switched to a more attacking 4-4-2 - ran onto a clever Robert Koren through pass to round Given and slot into an empty net.

The goal gave the promoted side new hope and it took a dogged defensive display by Newcastle - and most notably a decent close range stop from Given to deny Miller on 73 minutes - to keep them at bay.

As the full time whistle approached, that defending became ever more dogged, but once Damien Duff had tracked back to mop up some late danger, time had ran out for the Baggies, leaving the Toon Army to breathe an audible sigh of relief and, more importantly, to celebrate a rare victory.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

Comment 54 - 73 of 93

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  1. Joey - good to see you moving in the right direction.­ Wish you well and keep control of your inner self

    From not printable, on Wed 29 Oct 7:59AM

  2. what is evy one worried about or slagging barton off­ for atleast he has the guts to face the world after­ what he has done look at all those players and managers­ involved in match fixing in my eyes they are the ones­ to look out for because their ruining the game for­ us.NUFC FOREVER

    From footy mad, on Wed 29 Oct 6:28AM

  3. give barton a chance,he's trying to turn his life­ around,as he gets older he will mature and settle as­ others have in other walks of life

    From andy, on Wed 29 Oct 6:10AM

  4. i think alan shearer should be the newcastle manager

    From SaMiR NaSRi, on Wed 29 Oct 4:45AM

  5. If the coach wants to succeed Obafemi Martins should­ always be part of his starting eleven. The guy is good­ and always fight for the ball all the time. Your­ defence is terribly licking, you need to close it up if­ you really want to survive. From. Gbolahan - Nigeria

    From Gee, on Wed 29 Oct 3:43AM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    safc newcastle going down bartons a fug and will all­ ways be a fug

    From dscott59, on Wed 29 Oct 2:57AM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    why is everyone hateing on Barton he did nt do anything­ that a English man would not have done. he is just­ being english so why you all hateing.

    From dercute, on Wed 29 Oct 2:41AM

  8. First of all woooooooooooohoo, three points AT LAST!!­ What a huge relief... despite the knowledge we could be­ bottom of the table before our next game(!)

    To add to­ the other comments regarding a certain No.23, I­ don't think anyone could believe it when Martins­ was taken off... and Shirley Amoeba was left on. What­ does JFK see in him?? He must be feckin AMAZING in­ training cos he does nowt on the pitch. He may be a­ Geordie and he may love the Toon but I've seen­ nothing in the last 5 years to show me he's­ Premiership class. There's no consistency, despite­ the hilarious recent press report of his­ "outstanding current form". One sliced goal,­ one half-decent effort and a dozen glaring­ misses/wasted chances/terrible passes in 3 hours of­ play?? And he thought he was Shearer's replacement?­ His natural height/weight/strength/fitness etc should­ mean he's closing in on 200 goals, not 200­ appearances. Not after all this time. (It says a lot­ that young Stevie Taylor has made almost as many starts­ in half the time.)

    As for Barton, I don't think­ anyone is getting carried away. We're just giving­ him the chance he has begged for. Maybe we're mugs,­ only time will tell. As JFK says, with the paper thin­ squad we have, we can't afford not to play him. If­ he continues to work as hard and play as well as he did­ at Sunderland and if he continues to score goals and be­ the driving force in midfield that we so desperately­ need then perhaps we can forgive him for his past, even­ if we'll never forget. After all, he IS only a­ young lad and as stupid and as thuggish as his­ behaviour may have been, if he never sets a foot wrong­ from now on everyone will benefit.

    p.s. papillon soo­ soo (#45), you're a complete @#$%! If you're a­ Geordie then you're the kind of scum I'm­ ashamed to be associated with.

    From furiouszed, on Wed 29 Oct 2:30AM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Barton should not be allowed to play at all, he is a­ criminal, a fat thug. He brings disgrace to english­ football.

    From devil3529, on Wed 29 Oct 1:15AM

  10. JOEY BARTON IS A GREAT PLAYER HE HAS HIS UPS N DOWNS IN­ THE GAME BUT HE WILL ALWAYS GIVE 90% TO THE GEORDIES­ just back him C.T.I.D.

    From mcpluker, on Wed 29 Oct 1:04AM

  11. I just dont understand why Ameobi gets a game, he is­ bloody useless !!!

    From cath, on Wed 29 Oct 1:00AM

  12. in fairness lads he had a good game but the like of­ duffer and martins were better!dont be praising him 2­ soon coz it will only go 2 his head!

    From karl, on Wed 29 Oct 12:43AM

  13. why are all the geordies calling barton a messiah lol!!

    From chris, on Tue 28 Oct 11:47PM

  14. Barton is allowed one last chance now that he has­ admitted he has a problem, other footballers were­ allowed more chances after problems with drink etc,­ cough Tony Adams, now he needs to repay the Newcastle­ fans with the faith they shown him.

    From zehst, on Tue 28 Oct 11:33PM

  15. I think that we shall have to see what developes from­ Barton's return to the game. For now, he should not­ be always put in the spot light and for his part, it­ would be better to keep a low profile. It is hard to­ say whether time shall be a healer but one thing is for­ sure, people like him shall always have a violent­ streak and this comes to the front when thing don't­ go his way. As for Newcastle United, it'll be­ extremely hard work to lift them from the position­ where they are now. Their result shall increasingly­ depend on the results of others immediately above them.

    From sappercommando25, on Tue 28 Oct 11:24PM

  16. Papillon, youré a penis

    From tonydrains, on Tue 28 Oct 11:19PM

  17. Lets talk football.

    From ian mack, on Tue 28 Oct 11:13PM

  18. Mmm.. that takes some doing... beating West Brom. No,­ really... I'm impressed!

    And, cameron w... Daddy,­ is that you?

    From Nina G, on Tue 28 Oct 11:13PM

  19. one win and the Geordie Army goes nuts, you beat a­ championship side who is just came back to the­ premiership, and now you think your season is saved,­ not by a long shot. Mike Ashley still owns the club,­ Kevin Keegan is still fired, Joey barton a role model?­ Did you forget how he beat up a man at a McDonalds in­ Liverpool in a drunken rage, what about the injury to­ the player in Man. City, and the cigarette stubbing in­ a youth players eye? He's a thug, He'll never­ be forgiven or forgotten, Newcastle should only forgive­ him if he leads you to your first trophy in over 50­ years, lets see him do what Alan Shearer was close to­ doing. for NUFC.

    From Neo, on Tue 28 Oct 11:08PM

  20. 1st half newcastle was brilliant offensively, but there­ were cracks in their defense. 2nd half was horrible all­ around

    From Ahmad F, on Tue 28 Oct 10:55PM
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