Newcastle United 4
(Shearer 11 Pen, Bellamy 28, Bernard 35, Dyer 89)
Rangers 2
(Prso 42, Ricksen 84)
Attendance 31,554
Basic defensive errors cost Rangers the game, and it
must now be clear that Marvin Andrews will simply not
do as a first-choice central defender.
Today's game was Rangers' fourteenth visit to St.
James' Park, but only their second in the past sixty
years. There was a massive Light Blue travelling
support, perhaps 12,000 in a 31,554 attendance.
Newcastle took the lead in eleven minutes from the
penalty spot when hesitancy by Andrews allowed Lauren
Robert to gain possession, only to be upended by
Ricksen. Alan Shearer duly converted the spot-kick.
Six minutes later the scores should have been level
when Nacho Novo played a one-two with Dado Prso only
to shoot into the side-net when clean through.
Alex Rae came close with a twenty-yard drive from
Gregory Vignal's pass in 21 minutes, but seven minutes
later it was 2-0 when Martin Brittain's cross was
miss-kicked by Andrews, enabling Craig Bellamy to
rifle the ball home.
Rangers were up against it now, even more so in 36
minutes when a stunning Olivier Bernard drive from
some 25 yards found the top corner of the net with
Stefan Klos helpless.
A rout looked on the cards, but three minutes before
the break Prso netted from Novo's cutback to reduce
the deficit.
Manager Alex McLeish rang the changes at the interval
with Zurab Khizanishvili replacing the hapless
Andrews, Stephen Hughes for Bob Malcolm and Shota
Arveladze for Peter Lovenkrands.
Rangers should have narrowed the gap even further in
62 minutes when a move down the left split the United
defence wide open, but when Arveladze's slide-rule
pass found Ricksen in the clear, the Dutchman's drive
was blocked by goalkeeper Stephen Harper.
The game exploded soon afterwards when Alan Shearer
firstly elbowed Jean-Alain Boumsong in the throat in
mid-air in 64 minutes, then seven minutes later shoved
the Frenchman into the back of the net as a free-kick
was about to be played.
After consultation with his lineman, Referee Mark
Halsey yellow-carded both Shearer and Ricksen, who had
offered some advice on the art of refereeing, but the
former England captain was substituted soon afterwards
by Sir Bobby Robson in a clear admission that the
player was on the edge of a red card.
It was end-to-end stuff now, with Arveladze shooting
wide from a quickly taken Paulo Vanoli free-kick, then
Klos blocking Bellamy at the other end three minutes
later.
Chris Burke was inches too high in 78 minutes with a
volley from a Ricksen cross, as was Alex Rae sixty
seconds later from an Arveladze pass.
Kieran Dyer might have done better than shoot wide
from a Bellamy cross in 83 minutes, but in a swift
counter-attack Ricksen made it 3-2 from an Arveladze
pass.
Rangers were now on the brink of a superb come-back,
and Prso almost levelled matters in 88 minutes from a
Novo pass only to see his shot deflected wide.
Newcastle sealed victory in the final minute however
when Dyer netted from Michael Chopra's cross.
Sir Bobby Robson will now face his old club Sporting
Lisbon in tomorrow's final whilst Rangers renew an
acquaintance with Feyenoord.
The game ended on a sporting note with both Newcastle
and Rangers' fans applauding each other as they exited
the ground.
NEWCASTLE UNITED Harper; Hughes, O'Brien, Bramble,
Bernard; Ambrose (Brittain 15 {Chopra 79}), Bowyer,
Dyer, Robert (Butt 45); Shearer (Ameobi 71), Bellamy
(Gate 90)
UNUSED SUBS Caig
RANGERS Klos; Ricksen, Vignal (Vanoli 65); Boumsong,
Andrews (Khizanishvili 45), A. Rae; Burke, Malcolm
(Hughes 45), Prso, Novo, Lovenkrands (Arveladze 45)
UNUSED SUBS Hutton, Ross, G. Smith
REFEREE Mark Halsey