Injury Pile-Up as Latics Crash
By Alan G
April 15 2006
Arjan de Zeeuw and Matt Jackson will both be out for the remainder of the season with a broken collar bone and a damaged knee respectively.
It all started brightly for Latics, Jimmy Bullard, often slated for his dead-ball set-piece non-events, curled a free kick over the wall and beyond the despairing dive of Shay Given on five minutes.
Latics looked comfortable on the ball and didn’t look troubled by any of the Newcastle play until they lost both their central defenders, forcing Pascal Chimbonda to play out of position in the centre of defence alongside Paul Scharner.
Newcastle were affected by injuries of their own as Lee Bowyer's afternoon lasted only eight minutes and Michael Chopra made an early entrance in place of Shola Ameobi.
On 28 minutes Chopra was adjudged to have been bundled over by Reto Ziegler and Alan Shearer smashed the ball past John Filan.
Then on 36 minutes, the devastation in the heart of the Latics defence was probed by Titus Bramble, who unchallenged, headed a Nolberto Solano corner powerfully home.
Latics used up all their substitutes by half time – Lee McCulloch needed to be replaced by Henri Camara just before the interval due to feeling unwell.
After the break it was fairly nip and tuck, until Shearer managed to stay onside, according to the linesman, and latched onto a Chopra through ball. Filan managed to get a hand to the ball as Shearer attempted to round him, but the ball spun loose and ran luckily for the striker, who tapped into an empty net.
Paul Jewell:
"To have injuries to both centre backs within a minute of each other, we just didn't recover from that. We started the game quite well, and got a goal in front and could have had another one.
"It was just too much to expect us to lose two members of our defence and expect us to win the game, it was just too much for us. It was quite an open game and we had a couple of chances, and we had a good chance through Lee McCulloch to go two-nil up. We changed the shape of the team and we looked quite comfortable, knocking the ball around quite well, but because of the injuries it was just too much to ask of us.
"You can make one or two changes, but when you are talking three or four you are always going to be up against it and it wasn't going to happen for us. Arjan de Zeeuw has done his collar bone, and Jacko has taken some damage to his knee, and Lee McCulloch's ill. I wouldn't have thought 'Arry [De Zeeuw] or Jacko will be available on Tuesday night, if at all for the rest of the season.
"I am disappointed in the manner of the goals, the first one is when the linesman gave it [Shearer penalty], the second was a free header from a corner [Titus Bramble], and for the third one we had a throw-in and we gave it away, and ten seconds later the games over.
"After the penalty we were always going to be chasing, and they got a foothold in the game, and Shearer just had too much of our makeshift centre halves."
Subs Not Used: Harper, Ramage.
Booked: Elliott, Moore.
Goals: Shearer 28 pen, Bramble 36, Shearer 66.
Latics: Filan, Chimbonda, Jackson (Baines 20), De Zeeuw (Scharner 17), Ziegler, Thompson, Kavanagh, Bullard, McCulloch (Camara 44), Johansson, Roberts.
Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Teale.
Booked: Baines, Kavanagh, Scharner.
Goal: Bullard 5.
Att: 52,302
Ref: U Rennie (