Newcastle Progress Past Stanley
Young Guns Do The Job
Newcastle followed up Sunday's fantastic win in their home Premier League opener by progressing to the next round of the League Cup with a hard fought 3-2 win against League 2 side Accrington Stanley at the Crown Ground.
Chris Hughton rang the changes and game a lot of youngsters a chance and most of them didn't disappoint and they just had enough extra class to sneak through against a decent looking Stanley side. Saying that it was 3 old heads in Ryan Taylor, Shola Ameobi and Peter Lovenkrands that got the goals with Taylor's long range opener the pick of the bunch.
Personally im not a big fan of Hughton playing so many of the youngsters in this competition. Don't get me wrong I think its really good to try and get some of these players game time in the 1st team to aid their development but at the same time I really do think its risky in a competition that i genuinely think we have a chance of doing well in. Im not necessarily saying we can win it but if you look at some of the sides that have made it to the latter stages over the last few years then I certainly think we should be taking it slightly more seriously. Of course after a win Hughton will probably say he was vindicated and of course staying in the Premier League should be our main focus but its always nice to have a cup run and certainly tonight we could have seen ourselves out of the competition.
I was impressed with Accrington, I think they put up a really good fight and gave us a good game and if it wasn't for the once again outstanding Tim Krul then a shock could have been on the cards. I have to say I really hope Krul sticks around long enough to get the number 1 spot as he is a top top keeper and in my view is probably better than Harper.
As well as being impressed with Accrington's performance I was also impressed by their managers comments after the game. When asked about his teams performance he said he thought it could have been better and he seemed genuinely disappointed to lose despite them obviously being severe underdogs based on the gulf between the clubs in terms of league positions etc. Was very refreshing to not hear the old cliches and managers basically saying that they expected to get beat due to the difference in resources etc - fair play to the guy he was genuinely disappointed not to come away with a result.
Hopefully we will get a good draw in the next round that will allow us to progress. All in all a good night, a victory and some of the youngsters getting some more experience under their belts even though I thought a few looked understandably shakey.
What do people think, is Chris Hughton right to give the youngsters a crack and save the 1st teamers for the Premier League or should we be taking it a bit more seriously?
