A bolt from the blue by David Batty gave Newcastle their first away league
triumph of 1998 as Villa's slide down the slippery slope continued.
The combative midfielder had not found the net since his audacious 40-yard
chip over Wimbledon's Neil Sullivan back in August 1996.
But with Glenn Hoddle's number two John Gorman among a bored-rigid Villa Park
crowd ahead of Monday's England squad announcement, Batty ended that 17-month
drought at just the right time for himself and under-fire boss Kenny Dalglish.
Batty picked up the ball from a weak Alan Wright clearance and looked for Alan
Shearer as he crossed to the edge of the box.
Shearer's shot was blocked by Ian Taylor, but only straight into the path of
Batty, whose angled effort from 20 yards went through Mark Bosnich's hands to
nestle in the bottom corner.
It was a goal that continued Villa's Newcastle nightmare - they are now
without a win over the Tynesiders in 10 Premiership meetings - and leaves them
still just three points off the drop zone and booed off the pitch again.
Newcastle, needing a boost of their own after last week's Stevenage
embarrassment, got what they wanted, the win taking them into the top 10,
although nobody would pretend this was anything special.
Still, it was a win, a rare beast in recent weeks for either side. The
pre-match omens had not been good, Newcastle with just one win in 10 league
games, Villa only slightly better with one in six, but even the pessimists would
not have predicted the opening.
It was frankly shocking, a litany of misplaced passes, woeful control and no
imagination that showed up the pretensions of the Premiership's apologists for
what they are.
Newcastle had new £3million signing from AC Milan, Andreas Andersson - his
shirt number suggesting Premiership life begins at 40 - up front alongside an
only occasionally dangerous Shearer.
The Swede did his best to deny the fact that he had spent most of the campaign
in the San Siro stands, but had little support, while the Dwight Yorke-Stan
Collymore partnership rarely even flattered to deceive.
Yorke, USA-bound on Sunday night, did occasionally stir the home fans, notably with a
jink and run ended by Steve Watson's sliding tackle, before shooting over from
Simon Grayson's pass.
Keith Gillespie's pace on the right was Newcastle's best avenue, but with
Shearer struggling to get the better of Gareth Southgate the first real chance,
in the 38th minute, came at the other end.
Mark Draper's deep corner from the Villa left was nodded back across goal by
Riccardo Scimeca but Taylor, barely two yards out, contrived to head over the
bar.
The miss was the spur for Shearer to get into the match, dragging a 25-yard
volley wide from the willing Andersson's knockdown before for once drifting away
from Southgate as Gillespie cut in from wide.
That gave Shearer the space he needed as he met Gillespie's cross with a
powerful header, only for the diving Bosnich to parry away.
After the dross - a candidate for the worst 45 minutes of the season - the
interval view was that it had to get better.
Thankfully it did, just. Taylor shot weakly at Shaka Hislop after Collymore
and Yorke had for once linked effectively before the Trinidadian's deflected
shot was gathered by the keeper.
Yet it was Newcastle, courtesy of Bosnich's slow reactions, who grabbed the
winner 13 minutes into the second period, reward for Batty's commitment and
willingness to gamble.
Villa looked to respond instantly, Steve Howey almost slicing into his own net
from Collymore's wicked centre, while Wright might have made amends with a
volley from Draper that flashed over.
But the problem for Villa was that, with the fan-reviled Savo Milosevic not
even on the bench, they had few if any options, and the reaction when Julian
Joachim replaced Wright with 21 minutes left was muted.
It saw Villa switching to 4-4-2, but to little effect, with Newcastle, Batty
controlling the middle of the park, having plenty in hand.
Dalglish might have been unhappy that his side did not take more advantage of
Villa's desperation but when Draper shot wide in the last minute it was all
over.
Teams:
Aston Villa: Bosnich, Wright (Joachim 68), Scimeca, Southgate,
Ehiogu, Grayson, Taylor, Draper, Hendrie, Yorke, Collymore.
Subs Not Used: Charles, Nelson, Byfield, Oakes.
Newcastle: Hislop, Gillespie, Beresford, Batty, Watson, Howey,
Lee, Pistone, Shearer, Andersson (Tomasson 83), Pearce.
Subs Not Used: Given, Ketsbaia, Albert, Griffin.
Goals: Batty 58.
Att: 38,266
Ref: S J Lodge (Barnsley).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook