The little Kop of horrors

When Newcastle won 2-0 in 1994 most fans should have made the most of it.

Rob Lee and Andy Cole were on the scoresheet that day, and after speaking to Lee this week he actually said: "We could have won by more that day to be honest."

Maybe so, but we've been made to suffer for it all since!

Back then an almighty bungle by the NUFC Box Office resulted in many fans (myself included) getting letters saying they'd been successful for tickets for the game - only for a cruel twist days later to deny them as similar letters hit the door mat telling them it had all been a mistake!

The consolation was, long before the days of dodgy Norwegian TV in pubs, fighting over tickets to see the game at the City Hall!

But perhaps Ticketgate was a warning shot for the Geordie Nation of what was to come in future years at Anfield.

Indeed 0-2 in 1995 was pretty mild about what was next for Toon fans on Merseyside.

For Kevin Keegan, who announced plans to retire as a Newcastle player after a 4-0 hammering at Anfield in 1984, the strain was clearly showing the next season.

The 1996 "champions" season, as one Geordie had printed on his shirt remember, resulted in an amazing 4-3 win for Liverpool, TV pictures of KK a regular feature of Sky with the Toon boss slumped in the dugout.

United of course went 2-1 up then 3-2 up before crumbling in front of the Kop in a game that probably stereotyped the club in the eyes of the national Press and the rest of the country.

And while it wasn't always 4-3 under Keegan, despite the urban myth, it certainly was the next season when it was 4-3 again! Well any excuse to to help Liverpool produce two video productions!

Oh and on the subject of 4-3, anybody who says it was great to be involved obviously doesn't remember what it's like to concede two goals in stoppage time two seasons running!

This time under another ex-Kop number 7 in Kenny Dalglish.

With United 3-0 down some cockney bloke decided to toss his Toon shirt over the manager's head.

He probably thought he'd look foolish when it got back to 3-3 thanks to a last minute equaliser from Warren Barton but in keeping with Newcastle's torrid luck at Anfield, Robbie Fowler netted a goal with the last kick of the game in front of the Kop.

It wasn't funny after that but still pain continued.

A rearranged game in January in 97/98, with Sky on hand to witness it of course, had Michael Owen as the hero that day as a 1-0 win - which included mandatory bad luck with a goal by Jon Dahl Tomasson disallowed - made sure the mighty Reds continued their domination of the fixture.

A Christmas cracker in 98/99 came next!

But just when it looked like it was going to be Newcastle's day, after Nobby Solano's opener in front of the Kop, good old Stephen Lodge levelled things up when he sent off Didi Hamann a minute after the goal.

Ruud Gullit's Magpies didn't know how to defend a the best of times let alone with Owen on the loose.

But amazingly rather than try to battle with 10 men with a 1-0 lead, Andreas Andersson had a rare bright idea to put Newcastle 2-0 up with a quarter of the game left.

A famous win on Merseyside then?

No, no, not likely - not even a famous draw.

Two for Owen and two for Karlheinz Riedle made it another miserable day out for the Toon Army.

Perhaps a change of decade would cure United's Mersey blues then?

Not a chance, in 2000 Newcastle rolled over to play their part in Jamie Redknapp's inury comeback after dominating the game at Anfield after Shearer had replied to Camara's opener.

Another 89th minute goal from good old Jamie marked a successful return for the England ace - oh yeah and just in front of the Newcastle fans as well to rub salt into a growing wound.

That day some Scouser came up to me afterwards and muttered: "I bet you lot love coming 'ere like". I couldn't reply.

In 2001 there was no late agony this time as Owen put us out of our misery with a hat-trick, in broken English a Hungarian pal from uni said: "Your fans are better than your team", I couldn't reply again.

Slight hopes of winning the title didn't change the outcome of winning at Anfield in 2002 as two from Danny Murphy and one from Didi did the damage with a floodlight failure before the game only adding to Newcastle's pre-game nerves.

A rare fightback in 2002/03 featured Alan Shearer and Gary Speed hitting late goals in a spirited draw for Newcastle in a game that left me somewhat baffled.

After not being able to make it to the game I had to give it the Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads treatment and tape the game.

Having taped it and then pressed play rather than rewind, the image of a Newcastle fan celebrating wrecked the game in many ways but not in the way that I'd hoped.

With Liverpool 2-0 up and cruising going into the last 10 minutes, it turned out that the aforementioned fan was celebrating a point!

A tense and nervous game in 2004 ensured qualification to the UEFA Cup thanks to a Shola goal and Man U's win over Villa but still only a point at a time when the UEFA Cup was only a consolation due to the capitulation of the team that failed to make it to the Champions League.

Normal service was resumed a season later as Liverpool triumphed 3-1 with a Titus Bramble own goal delighting the Kop-pites.

I'm now in the year of 2005, the hair is unsurprisingly, long gone, and Graeme Souness is in charge of a Newcastle team struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League.

However, with Owen now playing for us, hopes before the game are high of the striker turning the game in our favour.

Don't be silly, in this game alone Owen was abused by home fans, Steven Taylor's shoulder popped out and Titus Bramble was actually applauded on to the pitch to replace him by the Liverpool home fans on a freak day that ended 2-0 to the home side.

And to bring us bang up to date is last year's performance.

This time summer transfer target Dirk Kuyt opened the scores and to polish it all off, an out of character slip by Steve Harper allowed Xabi Alonso to net from the halfway line.

Will we be due a little bit of luck this time around?

I'm saying nowt...

WHAT DO YOU THINK?