Newcastle 2 Sheffield United 1

No points were needed to secure our return to the Premier League but that didn't stop Chris Hughton and his side giving the promotion party a winning start by beating Sheffield United on Monday evening.

United came from behind, thanks to goals from Peter Lovenkrands and Kevin Nolan at a packed St. James' Park to maintain the unbeaten home run this season.

Nottingham Forest's failure to beat Cardiff in the teatime kick-off meant that we were already assured of regaining our Premier League status and Sheffield's opener from a corner looked to have dampened the party atmosphere.

However, some mindless defending from Chris Morgan gifted us a penalty that Lovenkrands gratefully converted on the stroke of half-time and from that moment on there only looked to be one winner.

Jonas Gutierrez almost capped a scintillating run with a goal but his shot was turned onto the post but minutes later Danny Simpson's high ball back into the box was nodded back to Nolan by Lovenkrands and our captain thumped home a spectacular scissor-kick beyond Steve Simonsen to win the game.

Danny Guthrie should have made it three after Jose Enrique had slotted him in but Simonsen saved well and Shola Ameobi, Joey Barton and Ryan Taylor all came on near the end to join the celebrations as an emotional Hughton joined his player in the centre circle.

Enjoy your evening, folks. These nights don't come around very often....

Full match report to follow.

Team: Harper, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Jose Enrique, Routledge (Ryan Taylor 90), Guthrie (Barton 87), Nolan, Gutierrez, Carroll, Lovenkrands (Ameobi 83).
Subs n/u: Krul, Best, Butt, Kadar.

Booked: Routledge.

Goals: Lovenkrands 45 pen, Nolan 73.

Sheff Utd: Simonsen, Nosworthy, Seip (Bartley 89), Morgan, Taylor, Williamson (Little 71), Montgomery, Harper, Quinn, Henderson, Cresswell (Yeates 81).
Subs n/u: Bennett, Geary, Fortune, Lowton.

Booked: Seip.

Goal: Cresswell 22.

Crowd: 48,270 - a downright lie in our opinion. There simply weren't 4,000 empty seats in the ground tonight.

Referee: Andy Hall (W Midlands).

Only mathematics keeps us from celebrating our return to the Premier League after Nottingham Forest's draw at Ashton Gate left us a point short from certainty.

United did the job at Peterborough thanks to goals from Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Shola Ameobi and although we looked far from convincing, the win was still a comfortable one.

Chris Hughton's major midfield reshuffle looked to have backfired as Nolan, Barton, Fabrice Pancrate and Alan Smith struggled to find any fluency and the home side took advantage by taking an 11th minute lead.



Steve Harper and Fabricio Coloccini got in a mess with a hopeful through ball and Harper's weak clearance was returned over his head by Dominic Green to give Posh the lead.

It could have been two minutes later but Sergio Torres lobbed the ball high and wide when he was bearing down on Harper.

United's equaliser was simple enough, Nolan converting a cross after Jose Enrique had made his way down the left and pulled the ball back for Nolan to find the net.

Wayne Routledge replaced the poor Pancrate at the break and Shola Ameobi, partnering Leon Best, up front won a free-kick which Barton neatly chipped over the wall and past Joe Lewis.

The third was Ameobi's with a speculative shot from outside the box that Lewis should have saved but could only fumble into his own net and at 3-1 the game was won.

Peterborough managed a second through Liam Dickinson but apart from a couple of late headers that flew over Harper's bar, Newcastle looked more likely to grab a fourth.

Promotion could already be secured before we take to the field on Monday against Sheffield United but make no mistake, we're back in the big league at the first attempt.

Full match report to follow.

Team: Harper, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Jose Enrique, Barton (Gutierrez 87), Smith, Nolan, Pancrate (Routledge 46), Best, Ameobi (Butt 83).
Subs n/u: Krul, Lovenkrands, Ryan Taylor, Kadar.

Booked: Best, Gutierrez.

Goals: Nolan 45, Barton 48, Ameobi 59.

Peterborough: Lewis, Gilbert, Zakuani, Geohaghon, Griffiths, Torres (Simpson 46), Lee (Bennett 55), Frecklington, Rowe, Dickinson, Green (Mackail-Smith 46).
Subs n/u: McKeown, Day, Mills, Reid.

Booked: Zakuani.

Goals: Green 11, Dickinson 76.

Crowd: 12,877. Biggest of the season at London Road by 166 and 2,500 more than the turnout for League Cup game in September.

Referee: Mark Haywood (W Yorkshire

United preserved their unbeaten home record amid driving rain and swirling wind on Monday, thanks to second half strikes from an unlikely pair of scorers. However, the thirteen point gap they opened up over the visitors as a consequence was the vital statistic of the evening.

Chris Hughton's side had failed to record a victory in four previous league and cup fixtures against their closest rivals Forest and Albion this season, but goals from fit-again Shola Ameobi and a long-overdue conversion from Jose Enrique left United on the verge of promotion.

Victory against the side in third place now means that a win at Peterborough on Saturday coupled with defeat for Forest at Bristol City will confirm our promotion. And you wouldn't rule that out, given that Newcastle have lost just once in 26 games and Forest have now racked up seven successive losses away from the City Ground.

The first half was a tight affair with Newcastle looking increasingly dominant, seeing an Andy Carrroll volley blocked by Lee Camp and a penalty claim from Peter Lovenkrands waved away by referee Alan Wiley.

Some stout defending from a back four that included the returning Mike Williamson kept the visitors at bay and was to form the basis for a victory that was ground out by willpower and persistence as much as footballing skill.

Carroll had played on after treatment in the first half but was replaced shortly after the restart by Ameobi, who had been sidelined by injury since our last defeat, at Derby back in early February.

The striker marked his return by taking a pass from Kevin Nolan on the edge of the Forest area and turning to crack home a left-footed grass cutter that went in off the far post for his ninth of the season and first of 2010.

Nolan then forced Camp into a block before Ameobi turned provider, playing a one-two with Enrique and back-heeling the ball into the path of the defender.

The Spaniard promptly marked his 88th appearance for the club by shooting home via the 'keeper at the Leazes End before being submerged under a sea of bodies - emerging to be shown a yellow card after peeling off his sodden shirt.

His manager jigged along the touchline, the club owner and MD embraced in the Directors Box and the fans cheered the players off the pitch, before exiting SJP in full cry shortly after - all very different to a year ago, when Hughton was relieved of his duties.

Almost back to where we were - before we were so rudely interrupted.

Full match report to follow.

NUFC: Harper, Simpson, Enrique, Nolan, Coloccini, Williamson, Guthrie, Routledge, Carroll (Ameobi 48), Lovenkrands (Barton 90+3), Gutierrez.
Subs n/u: Krul, R.Taylor, Kadar, Butt, Best.

Booked: Enrique.

Goals: Ameobi 71, Enrique 90+1.

NFFC: Camp, Perch, Morgan, Wilson, Gunter, Anderson, Cohen, Moussi, Majewski (Earnshaw 72), Tyson (McCleary 69), Blackstock (McGoldrick 77).
Subs n/u: Smith, Chambers, McGugan, Adebola.

Booked: Morgan, Wilson, McCleary.

Crowd: 45,987
Referee: Alan Wiley.

Andy Carroll scored for the fourth consecutive away game to salvage a point at Ashton Gate, after United had been two goals down at half-time.

Big Andy did what he had done at Swansea and the smoggies to level with time running out and stretch our unbeaten run to eight games.

Newcastle could have secured a top six point with a victory but managerless Bristol City took a surprise lead through former mackem loanee, Lewin Nayatanga, after just ten minutes and Nicky Maynard doubled the advantage with a superb strike a minute before half-time.

United, missing Peter Lovenkrands, had enjoyed most of the possession in the first period but Leon Best failed to make the most of two chances that were presented by the Robins' defence.

Thankfully Jonas Gutierrez was more accepting when City 'keeper, Dean Gerken, rolled the ball out to Cole Skuse and our man nipped in the steal it, take it past the 'keeper and slot home to halve the deficit.

Minutes later a rejuvenated Newcastle got back on terms when Wayne Routledge crossed for Carroll to sweep the ball home in front of a packed away end and with 15 minutes still remaining a famous victory looked possible.

The equaliser was reminiscent of Andy Cole's goal at St. James' Park when United had hit back with two quick goals against Birmingham in the 1992/93 campaign after also being 0-2 behind at the break.

Like that day, there were chances to win it but the final ball into the box wasn't quite good enough and Gerken and his defence were able to hold firm for a change - conceding late goals being something of a speciality for City.

West Brom and Forest both won but with games running out, the two and ten point gaps respectively, look ever healthier and we still have an extra game to play.

We can now finish no lower than eighth and only a strange set of results on Tuesday would see us fail to guarantee a top six finish and at least a place in the playoffs.

Full match report to follow.

Team: Harper, Jose Enrique, Hall (Kadar 51), Coloccini, Simpson, Routledge, Guthrie, Nolan, Gutierrez, Carroll, Best.
Subs n/u: Krul, Ryan Taylor, Pancrate, Butt, Ranger,
Donaldson.

Booked: Coloccini, Guthrie.

Goals: Gutierrez 71, Carroll 75.

Bristol City: Gerken, Ribeiro, Carey, Nyatanga, Orr, Elliott,Hartley, Skuse, McAllister (Sno 46), Haynes (Sproule 85),Maynard.
Subs n/u: Henderson, Johnson, Clarkson, Akinde, Maierhofer.

Booked: McAllister.

Goals: Nyatanga 10, Maynard 44.

Crowd: 19,144

Referee: Andy D'Urso (Billericay).

Having netted three, four and five times in their last trio of home games, Newcastle maintained their recent scoring run at SJP with half a dozen strikes against the Tykes.

Peter Lovenkrands had been denied an early opener by an offside flag, but referee Grant Hedley gave the Dane a chance that he didn't miss when awarding a penalty kick just before the interval.

Fabrice Pancrate set Lovenkrands away and as he raced into the Gallowgate penalty area there was a coming together with visiting 'keeper Luke Steele, who saw red.

Substitute 'keeper David Preece was introduced but his first act was to pick the ball out of his own net, as Peter Lovenkrands blasted home his 11th goal of the season.

By then United had already been forced into a change, with left back Jose Enrique returning from a seven match layoff but lasting barely half an hour before limping off.

The Spaniard was one of three changes from the side who started at Watford, with Lovenkrands preferred to Leon Best and Pancrate appearing on the right wing. That allowed Danny Guthrie to move into central midfield, compensating for the absent (injured) Alan Smith.

Lovenkrands then doubled our lead within three minutes of the restart, heading in Andy Carroll's superb cross from the left flank after a defender cheaply lost possession.

And that proved to be the first of five Magpie goals in a 23 minute period, with Danny Guthrie the next to net with swerving right footer from the edge of the box.



The goal of the game followed ten minutes later when Jonas Gutierrez cut in from the left and beat three men before crashing the ball in off the underside of the bar and then donned his Spider-man mask amid much applause.

Guthrie then got his second - and our fifth - with a long distance free kick that eluded everyone and crept in at the far post, although Carroll rather optimistically claimed a slight deflection.

The round half dozen soon arrived courtesy of a searching forward pass from sub Tamas Kadar that Kevin Nolan controlled before rounding the 'keeper and slotting home for his 13th goal of the campaign.

At that point we'd emulated the 6-0 win of March 1993 over Barnsley, while scoring that many goals for the first time since a 6-2 victory over Everton at SJP in 2002.

Best was then introduced in an attempt to get him in on the goalscoring act (Nile Ranger warming up in vain) but fellow sub Ryan Taylor came closest to yet another last minute goal, when volleying Pancrate's pullback wide.

Barnsley spoilt the unemployed Steve Harper's clean sheet with a late consolation goal from sub Daniel Bogdanovic, following a Danny Simpson error.

With West Brom losing at QPR a late winner for Nottingham Forest against Swansea put them into second spot, but we lead Billy Davies & Co by a very healthy-looking eight points with a game in hand.

Full match report to follow.

Team: Harper, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Enrique (Kadar 33), Pancrate, Guthrie, Nolan (R.Taylor 73), Gutierrez, Carroll (Best 72), Lovenkrands.
Subs n/u: Krul, Hall, Butt, Ranger.

Goals: Lovenkrands 44pen,48, Guthrie 50,69, Gutierrez 60, Nolan 71.

Barnsley: Steele, Hassell, Foster, Shotton, Dickinson, Teixeira, Colace, Doyle, Hallfredsson (Bogdanovic 63), De Silva (Preece 42), Gray (Macken 63).
Subs n/u: Moore, Hume, Potter, Hammill.

Sent off: Steele (41 - professional foul)

Goal: Bogdanovic 83.

Crowd: 44,464 including a sold out away following of 2,800 - less than half of whom were still in the ground when Barnsley scored their consolation goal.

Referee: Grant Hegley (Hertfordshire). Second outing in a Newcastle game for this official, following his handling of our 2-0 victory at Coventry City in December 2009.