Barnsley 2 Newcastle United 2

Dec 13 2009 by Stuart Rayner, Sunday Sun

EVEN if they emulate Kevin Keegan’s title-winning team of 1992-93, Chris Hughton’s Newcastle United will never be thought of as affectionately as The Entertainers.

But as they closed in on their predecessors’ 11-match winning run, the class of 2009 unwittingly livened up a game they had turned into a bit of a yawn.

For once, though, the 6,987 away fans would much rather have had a bit of boring, boring Newcastle.

At half-time you would have got long odds on anything other than a routine win for a team starting to look a class apart in a humdrum Championship.

Newcastle extended their lead at the top of the table to eight points last night, yet still headed to their Christmas party with glum faces.

United knew this should have been win number eight, but their first-half caution backfired. In trying to play it safe, they dropped two points.

Ahead after six minutes, United were content to sit on their lead and show faith in their back five, but they reckoned without a much-improved second-half display from the home side.

It had all looked so different as their recalled striker continued his one-man mission to hog the headlines.

Nothing says Christmas like a carol, and it has been impossible to keep Newcastle’s Andy Carroll out of the news this week. The England Under-21 international had a hand in the first three goals – but the fact there was a fourth would prove decisive.