NEWCASTLE United new boy Alan Smith netted the only goal of the game today at St James' Park against Sampdoria to end the Magpies' pre-season schedule in style and bag his first strike since arriving from Manchester United.
Today's clash also marked the first game in a black and white shirt for Mark Viduka while Jose Enrique Sanchez Diaz watched from the stands with chairman Chris Mort and boss Sam Allardyce with the left-back poised to confirm his move from Villarreal in the next 48 hours.
However, on the pitch it was all about debut boy Smith, who won the encounter against the Serie A side by heading home from Geremi's corner on 59 minutes after showing some neat touches on a sticky afternoon at Gallowgate.
Smith actually had the ball in the net twice in the second half but after poking home Shola Ameobi's knockdown six minutes after the restart the linesman flagged for offside, however, TV replays showed it was close call.
With Cameroon international Geremi skippering United in fine fashion today, there were plenty of plus points for the 23,078 crowd but no game these days seems to be complete without an injury concern and there was fresh worry in the goalkeeping department.
Just 38 minutes had elapsed when Shay Given went off with a groin injury meaning the Irishman could be a doubt for the opener against Bolton next Saturday.
His replacement Steve Harper had little to do though and as the game fizzled out it was United who created just a few half chances before the final whistle capped off a decent and unbeaten pre-season at St James' Park after wins against Celtic and Juventus made it three wins out of three.
UNITED: Given (Harper 38), Carr, N'Zogbia, Taylor, Rozehnal, Solano (Martins 46), Geremi, Butt, Milner (Ramage 69) Viduka (Ameobi 46), Smith.
Subs not used: Luque, Edgar, Huntington, Forster, Pattison, Troisi, Carroll,.
REF: ANDRE MARRINER
CROWD: 23,078
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »