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The Lad Again at St James' Park
by Harry Spall
October, 2002
- Watched the Juventus away game at The Dock in Amble (on the Northumberland coast above
Blyth). Despite the predictions of the southern media, the Toon walked away showing that
they do have the right European pedigree despite the 2-0 loss. As Sir Bobby said, "We
were never outplayed or outclassed." The game swung from end to end until Del Piero
whipped in a free kick for Juventus in the 66th minute. Three minutes later, Shearer
headed in Speed's far-post cross for what looked like the equalizer only to see the
linesman's flag go up against Dyer who from the TV replay clearly was not interfering
with play. Twelve minutes later it was 2-0 - a defeat, but not without honour.
- Watched the West Brom game at SJP (sorry, again in the posh seats). The Baggies scored
first through their Slovakian fullback. But just before halftime, Big Al scored from a
free kick that West Brom bitterly disputed. A clear back pass from their defender was
picked up by the goalkeeper (who could have kicked it clear) and Nobby Solano's free-kick
tap to Shearer was driven into the back of the net. The Toon's winning goal was a classic.
Speed played a long diagonal across to Nobby who headed it back from the line to Shearer
who helped himself to a second goal. He also scored a third but this was judged to be
offside. Three points in the bag from a game in which Speed had a strong performance.
- Watched the England-Slovakia match at the Upper Reaches, Abingdon in Oxfordshire.
The pitch in Bratislava was lousy - wet and bumpy - and Slovakia took full advantage of
England's discomfort during the first half. For long periods, England were outfought and
outplayed by a team ranked 45th in the world. There was plenty of bitterness on the pitch.
The worst foul was Beckham's over-the-top tackle which went completely unpunished. In the
second half Beckham and Scholes went into the center and Gary Neville and Ashley Cole
started driving down the flanks. This improved the England performance so that Beckham
scored from a free kick and Owen later exploited an opportunity to score the winning goal.
- An added fillip for the lad was to travel down to London on the same plane as Alan Shearer -
who was presumably on his way to Bratislava as a commentator. Even at 6:00 in the morning he
acknowledged a greeting.
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