Joey Barton, demanded to take the penalty, and he scored the first goal on his first start since leaving prison!  I watched this one at the ground, with one of my colleagues, and it was a good match choice to go and see live!  West Brom had the better of the game in the second half, and could easily have taken a point back to Birmingham with them.  But it wasn't to be, thank god!  In the first half, the magpies had numerous chances to put the game well beyond West Brom.  But, lack of straight shooting, composure, ideas, and all those other attributes necessary for a decent team was all in evidence, once again.

Martins never looked up, whilst running with the ball, and his aimless crosses and passes were frustrating the fans and players alike.  There were more than a handfull of occcasions, when you were thinking, "what if Shearer was still there to finis these chances off".

All said and done, beggers can't be chosers.  A win is a win, and it is 3 points in the bag, pushing the toon up above the relegation zone.

Newcastle United 2 -1 West Brom