Newcastle Utd 1 Stoke City 2:INEFFECTIVE IN the first half, unplayable in the second. It is always difficult to predict what you will get from Kenwyne Jones but Tony Pulis's decision to take a risk on him is starting to look like an inspired piece of business.
The Trinidad and Tobago striker was so bad in the first 45 minutes here Stoke’s manager must have been tempted to haul off his club-record €9.4 million signing from Sunderland at the interval. But a galvanised Jones spread panic in the Newcastle defence after half-time. Strong and direct, he led the line superbly as the home side buckled under Stoke’s set-piece pressure.
He scored the equaliser, nodding home from close range after Robert Huth had jumped above Mike Williamson at the far post. It was his fourth goal in six games and he also hit the woodwork twice with huge, leaping headers.
“The big thing with Kenwyne is consistency,” said Pulis, echoing the words of the managers who worked with the striker at Southampton and Sunderland.
“If you look at his career he has always had runs of goals and he is in one of those periods now, but he has got to keep this going. We’ve got Ricardo Fuller who is from that area of the world as well and they are so laid back it’s frightening sometimes. It’s all about handling them the right way. (Jones) is unplayable at times, as we saw in the second half.”
The power in the air of Jones, and Stoke in general, was too much for Newcastle’s hapless right back, James Perch. The summer signing from Nottingham Forest has not found the move up to the Premier League easy and he panicked with five minutes remaining. Worried over where Eidur Gudjohnsen had gone, he dived to try to clear a Matthew Etherington corner at the near post and succeeded only in glancing the ball into the back of his own net.
The Magpies’ wings have been clipped again on their return to Tyneside. This was their second successive home defeat.
Leading through Kevin Nolan’s penalty just before half-time, after Huth had body-checked Andy Carroll’s run, Newcastle were unable to cope with Stoke when the visitors upped their intensity.
Hughton’s team almost forced an equaliser, Carroll volleying straight at Thomas Sorensen from a Jonas Gutierrez cross. Nolan also sent a first-time effort wide at the end of another incisive run from the Argentina international, who replaced the disappointing Hatem Ben Arfa just after the hour.
Newcastle coach Chris Hughton observed: “We should have coped with their set-pieces better than we did. It’s all about pinnacle moments and in two set plays we have been out done . . .
“For us, it’s a learning curve. We’ve got to make sure that after the lows, and it’s a big blow today, that we’re able to bounce back.”
Guardian Service
