We're in the top six!

We're in the top six!

Miserable 'King' Kenny brought his April Fools to St. James' Park and in one afternoon did more to entertain the Geordie faithful than during his time of tenure here on Tyneside.

It was an afternoon when absolutely everything went wrong for Dalglish and his staff packed full of ex-Magpies and chief clown were Andy Carroll who had an awful afternoon and Jose Enrique who ended up in goal!

Reds 'keeper Pepe Reina was dismissed for a senseless head-butt on James Perch meaning our former defender had to go in goal but it was Carroll storming off down the tunnell after giving Kenny and former Newcastle coach, Steve Clarke, a mouthful of abuse that caused most hilarity.

But amid the pantomime performance from the visitors came two more goal for Papiss Cisse and two more assists from match-winner Hatem Ben Arfa.

The two combined in either half to secure the three points that took us back level with Chelsea and put us out of sight of the Scousers (that's Everton and Liverpool).

The first after 19 minutes came from a tremendous cross from Ben Arfa and Cisse placed his header perfectly to beat Reina and go in off the far post at the Gallowgate end.

The second followed a mazy run from Ben Arfa who exchanged passes with Yohan Cabaye and could have shot but passed to Cisse who skipped past one challenge and then rigged Reina before slotting home.

Without captain Fabricio Coloccini our defence were superb with Mike Williamson standing up to the aerial bombardment and James "Perchinho" Perch once again outstanding, blocking everything that was thrown at us.

We also had the woodwork to thank in the first half for keeping out a deflected cross that Tim Krul did well to tip onto the bar and the post appeared to keep out a Carroll effort, although Danny Simpson's hand was apparently also responsible for keeping our former forward out.

Carroll was booked early in the game for a disgraceful attempt to win a penalty and get Krul sent off but thankfully his dive was as poor as the rest of his play and referee Martin Atkinson rightly booked him.

There were some moments of comedy gold throughout the afternoon with the Strawberry Corner taking the opportunity to barrack Louis Suarez who had foolishly gone to fetch the ball.

But the chants that rang round the ground reminding Jose Enrique of his Twitter quotes were fantastic and after Cisse had made the Liverpool defence look like idiots to double the lead, Kenny delighted the home crowd by withdrawing Carroll who stomped down the tunnell.

But better was to follow with Reina over-reacting to a tug by Perch as the 'keeper shaped to clear upfield. Atkinson went straight to his back pocket but after some moments hesitation he showed Perch a yellow before red-carding Reina.

Ironically, he will miss the FA Cup semi-final against Everton which we need Liverpool to win to prevent Everton claiming a Europa place.

But with 53 points already on the board, who's to say that we'll need the extra place with Chelsea in our sights?

A little something from a quick game report from NUFC.com

 

Delighted with my chant. Tweeted it yesterday morning as a bit of banter, got loads of retweets so I sang it in the strawberry and it became a massive hit. NUFC.com, BBC used it, newspapers using it. Love it.

 

Delighted to see that little **** Bellamy get it up him. Brilliant and highlight for me. Thought the boos for him should have been more vociferous given he is streets ahead of Carroll and Enrique in reasons for NEwcastle fans to hate someone.