Newcastle Beat Villa 2-0 To Go 14th In League Table

Newcastle United, who started the match in bottom place in the league table, did themselves a power of good this evening against a very good Aston Villa side, when Oba Martins scored two second half goals to give the Magpies a deserved 2-0 win at St. James' Park.

Given all the uncertainty surrounding the club, and if and when it will be sold, Joe Kinnear has to date done a sterling job in his 5 games in charge. Joe now has two successive wins, two draws and only one defeat, although that was to North East rivals Sunderland.

But since Sunderland won that game Newcastle have won twice and Sunderland have lost twice so Newcastle are now one place above Sunderland in 14th position in the league. A strange game this football.

The first half was very even but the better chances went to Aston Villa, who looked a good side, very quick on the break. Laursen grazed the post with a good header from a corner after only 11 minutes, and showed that Villa have become a dangerous side under Martin O'Neill.

But the miss of the game was from Agbonlahor, who from 7 yards out and with the goal at his mercy,  mis-kicked the ball, and that was a huge let off for the Magpies.

Half time came with the side all square at 0-0, but it took a little piece of magic from Oba Martins, who is a big favorite on Tyneside. After 60 minutes Oba got the ball just outside the box, and turned to his right to beat off Laursen's challenge, and then rifled home a beautiful left foot shot wide of Brad Friedel's desperate dive, and just inside the keeper's left hand goal post.

That was the first goal, and the Newcastle fans knew it was a big breakthrough as they went wild. The goal gave Newcastle new hope and confidence and they started to boss the game a little, although there was still time for a couple of uncomfortable moments in the Newcastle penalty area.

But then on 82 minutes Jonas, the Argentine International, who has another good game, burst into the penalty area and laid it on a plate for that man Martins, who made no mistake from point blank range. 2-0 and the game was won and a nice gesture from Joe Kinnear, who then replaced Martins with Claudio Cacapa. The Nigerian got a huge ovation from the Newcastle faithful, as he left the field - a job well done.

A good and crucial win by the Magpies when the ships were down, and the next two games are winnable in Fulham away and Wigan at home. But they will still need to play as well as they did tonight, to have any chance of winning those games too.

This is also a huge win for Joe Kinnear who now has 8 points from his 5 games in charge in the league, after coming in on a Magpies losing streak of 5 games, when he took over. Well done Joe seems to be inadequate praise for this fighting Irishman, who has transformed Newcastle into a spirited side under his considerable leadership.

Comments very welcome.