ToonArmyUsa member Harry Spall was lucky enough in May to watch the Charlton and West Ham matches from the posh seats, and see the Blackburn game midweek on Sky TV at the Turks Head in Tynemouth.

The Charlton match was notable for a number of records - Shearer's 200th Premiership strike, United's 100th goal of the season, and the 5,000th scored on the Magpies' home turf. The talking point before the game was Carl Cort's out-of-sorts form and this was answered when Bobby Robson gave Lua Lua his vote to start. Newcastle opened the scoring after 20 minutes when Gary Speed lost his marker to head in from an excellent corner by Solano. Just after the interval Lua Lua chased a ball forward, turned niftily and found the bottom corner of the goal. Seven back-flips followed in celebration. He continued to harass the Charlton defense, his only drawback being that he wants to do it all himself. With the crowd willing him on, Shearer seemed to have it in the bag for his 200th goal five minutes before the end after Lua Lua had flicked the ball to him, but the Charlton keeper parried the blast. But you never write off Wor Alan and with a minute to go he had the ball in the net. Pandemonium reined among the Toon Army, all the players shook his hand, and the referee presented him with the game ball.

The Blackburn match was hard fought on St George's Day, with the home side being lucky to go ahead with a Keith Gillespie (ex-Toon) goal. Newcastle had their chances in the first half with Speed and Lua Lua being unsuccessful. It wasn't until the second half that Newcastle could equalize with a well-timed strike from Shearer after a Solano cross. But another ex-Toon player, Andy Cole, came right back to put Blackburn ahead again. Shearer was not to be denied and a few minutes later he grabbed another goal with a lob over the keeper's head from a Laurent Robert pass. Craig Bellamy, Young Player of the Year, put in a brief appearance for the last 15 minutes of the game, during which he did his trademark running-all-over-the-field. The draw was enough to clinch a European berth - estimated to be worth $15 million to the Club.

The game against West Ham was one of two halves -something we have seen with disappointing frequency this season. The Toon were almost embarrassed the first half with West Ham being able to do everything but get the ball into the net, even from point-blank range. Newcastle were lucky not to be four goals down by half-time, the actual score being 1-1. United's goal came from a typical Shearer break-away when, with only David James to beat, he insolently flicked the ball into the net. (Craig Bellamy, please note). It was a different Newcastle who emerged in the second half - it seemed likely that Bobby had thrown a few chairs around the dressing room during the interval. Distin (who has since signed with Manchester City) replaced Andy O'Brien and with Bernard toughened up the Magpies' defense. Laurent Robert was finally awake by now and after a fatuous header-save out of his area by James, Robert let fly a blast which was just parried before Lua Lua knocked it in. (Only one back-flip today). Dyer, who didn't have a very noteworthy game, twice shot wildly over the bar. It was left to Robert who took a Solano ball to first strike the post before solidly hitting the rebound home. After the game there was a ten minute lap of honor by all the players (and their children) witnessed by the wildly-cheering Toon Army.

The Toon's season has been more a journey of self discovery and developing self-confidence this year, with Europe as a fitting reward. Much of this success is due to Bobby Robson who ought to have got the manager-of-the-year award. The Telegraph's Henry Winkler wrote that "he has become a statesman among managers, a legend among Geordies, and a national treasure for the rest of us." The Queen must have thought so too because he became Sir Robert in the Jubilee Honours list. But Shearer must also be given credit for his leadership, guts (he played the next week after breaking his nose at Derby), and his unselfish and intuitive football. And the rest of the team should be proud of their excellent achievement also.