Diomansy Kamara sends Newcastle back into trouble

THE middle-aged man with the jelly belly, which he only partly concealed beneath a tight Newcastle shirt, made his prediction with a poker face. If Alan Shearer tried to imitate Canute, this fan insisted between long gulps of lager before the match, he wouldn’t get his suavely tailored suit wet. “The guy’s infallible,” he said confidently. “He could turn back the sea on Whitley Bay sands, no bother.”
Newcastle will be content for Shearer to hold back the tide of relegation, which threatens to engulf them right at the end of a convulsing season. For whatever the diehards think about his hold over Neptune and the North Sea, Shearer still needs to take control of the gravitational force that may yet yank Newcastle into the Championship.
After the intoxicating high of beating Middlesbrough, fortune’s wheel turned depressingly against him again yesterday. In fact everything conspired to make his afternoon miserable.Not only did Fulham eke out a win, courtesy of Diomansy Kamara’s goal shortly before half-time, but Newcastle were denied a stoppage-time equaliser. Mark Schwarzer thrust out his fingertips to claw away Nicky Butt’s almost point-blank effort. With a 60th-minute sending-off for Bassong after he tugged at the box-bound Kamara’s shirt, Shearer could only contemplate the precarious life of a manager.
With ample justification, Shearer also thought that Mark Viduka had headed in a perfectly legitimate second-half goal from a Danny Guthrie corner. Referee Howard Webb, however, detected a Kevin Nolan block on Schwarzer that seemed grossly harsh. “He got the big decision wrong,” said Shearer with a resigned sigh.
Newcastle revived their hopes of safety in the first place more from the sharp toe of Shearer’s hand-made shoes — strategically deployed against a few comfortable backsides — than because of a sudden, blazing epiphany. The manager may have to repeat those tactics in the coming week before next Sunday’s final game at Aston Villa, which he faces a point in arrears of Hull. “Whatever Hull do,” said Shearer, explaining the obvious mathematics, “we have to better them. But be sure of one thing: there are a lot more twists and turns before this thing is finished.”
The faithful ascribe extravagant talents to Shearer that he would never claim for himself, but it does demonstrate the strength of the bond between them. He is trusted. Through the streets around St James’ Park, the talk and the chanting before kick-off wasn’t for Martins or Viduka, the injured Owen or Butt. It was for Shearer. If he could play, as well as boss, the last month and a half might have been so different.
For one thing, it is difficult to imagine Shearer missing the opening that Obafemi Martins did early on, ramming his drive against the left post when Schwarzer had committed himself to his right.
It was no consolation that Newcastle had largely dominated possession before Kamara struck in the 41st minute. As Erik Nevland gathered the ball on the right and sprinted forward, Newcastle glanced — in an act of wishful thinking — towards the linesman and waited for off-side. They were hopelessly stretched as a consequence, and Nevland was able to entice Steve Harper well off his line. He then pushed a perfect pass towards the far post for Kamara, who had sufficient time to steady himself properly before lifting the ball into the roof of the net.
Without a clearance on the line from Dickson Etuhu, hooking his foot around the ball like a circus contortionist after it had slipped off Schwarzer’s fist, Newcastle would have been level shortly after the restart. Fulham boss Roy Hodgson was nonetheless bullish about what he saw. “We came here in difficult circumstances. The crowd were willing on Newcastle. And Newcastle were fighting for their lives. The result proves how far we’ve come,” he maintained.
As for Newcastle, well, plenty of fans invest passionately in their team. Very few take its physical and emotional agonies to heart as do those in this corner of the country. After all, this is a place where a football and a black-and-white scarf are dropped into the cradle. “We’ve got to pick ourselves up,” said Shearer, making it sound achievable. The fans will expect nothing less of him. The fancy stuff at Whitley Bay can wait until next season.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Harper 7, Beye 7, S Taylor 7, Bassong 7, Duff 7, Guthrie 7 (R Taylor 62min), Butt 7, Nolan 7, Gutierrez 7 (Lovenkrands 76min), Viduka 7 (Carroll 80min), Martins 7.
FULHAM: Schwarzer 7, Konchesky 7, Hangeland 7, Hughes 7, Pantsil 7, Gera 7, Murphy 8, Dempsey 7, Etuhu 7, Kamara 7, Nevland 7 (Johnson 75min).
Star man: Danny Murphy (Fulham)
Yellow cards: Fulham: Murphy, Nevland, Dempsey. Red card: Newcastle: Bassong 60.
Referee: H Webb.
Attendance: 52,114.
Source:The times