Newcastle United - 1, Manchester City - 0: St James' Park rolled out the red carpet for Kevin Keegan last night, then promptly pulled it from under his feet. Afforded a hero's reception on his return to Tyneside, Keegan will have set off home wondering how Manchester City had taken away only hard-luck stories.
Nolberto Solano's 59th-minute goal ensured Bobby Robson's 69th birthday today will be a happy one, but the abiding memory of this pulsating tie will be the stoic performance of Keegan's players after the cruel interjection of having Richard Dunne sent off after only 29 minutes.
Since his abrupt departure in January 1997 Keegan had been back only twice - for a cameo appearance in Peter Beardsley's testimonial and on a scouting mission during his turbulent spell in charge of the England team.
Not since those iconic days as a player, however, will he have experienced such an outpouring of adulation as that which greeted this most emotional of homecomings. It began at 5.32 p.m. That was when Keegan hopped off the team coach and skipped up those same steps leading to the Milburn Stand where, six years ago, he met the supporters in an attempt to justify the £7 million transfer of Andy Cole to Manchester United. For the first glimpse of his return, a welcoming party of around 500 fans had congregated. Some of the more daring had clambered up the metal stanchions for a better vantage point.
If it was slowly dawning on City's players that they were stepping into something special, the explosion of noise that greeted Keegan's arrival on the touchline will have left them in no doubt.
Keegan being Keegan, City were never likely to adopt a policy of containment and the first division leaders, tentatively eyeing their first quarter-final in nine years, played without trepidation until Dunne's sending-off changed the entire structure of the game. City were long and vehement in their protests.
Dunne is known at Maine Road as Honey Monster because of his portly frame and when Alan Shearer flicked on a long punt from Shay Given, the City defender was left trailing by Craig Bellamy before hauling him to the ground just outside the penalty area. Alan Wiley deliberated long and hard, consulted his assistant, but as professional fouls go it was as clear-cut as they come.
The pity was that it effectively denuded the game of its classic potential. Keegan was forced to improvise but, typically, kept Paulo Wanchope and Darren Huckerby in attack, moving Shaun Wright-Phillips and Niclas Jensen from the wings into the full- back slots.
This meant City were one short in midfield and suddenly it seemed as though the ball belonged to Newcastle. Bellamy had a goal ruled out for offside but Keegan's sense of adventure was almost rewarded in first-half stoppage time when Eyal Berkovic put Huckerby through for the most inviting chance of the first 45 minutes. Handed the chance to score against his former club, the striker slipped the ball past Given only to watch it roll beyond the far post, almost in slow motion.
That was to be Huckerby's last act, Richard Edghill replacing him at half-time in a more defensive line-up. Those who believed this would be the prelude for a Newcastle siege were mistaken. City were swiftly back in attacking mode and, again, the gulf in status was impossible to detect. Had Wright-Phillips, an increasingly dangerous player, taken a chance seven minutes after the break, Given saving with his legs, this could have been a famous night for the First Division side.
It was difficult, therefore, not to feel a certain amount of sympathy for Keegan and his players when, seven minutes later, Gary Speed's diagonal pass picked out Solano drifting in from the right. Nicky Weaver charged off his goal-line to cut him off but was immediately made to regret his impetuousness. Solano clipped the ball past the isolated goalkeeper to score into an empty net. Still City were not finished, but this was not to be Keegan's night.
NEWCASTLE: Given, Hughes, O'Brien, Distin, Elliott, Solano, McClen (Acuna 66), Speed, Robert (Lua-Lua 85), Shearer, Bellamy. Subs Not Used: Harper, Ameobi, Dabizas. Booked: Shearer. Goal: Solano 59.
MANCHESTER CITY: Weaver, Howey, Ritchie, Dunne, Wright-Phillips, Horlock, Berkovic, Tiatto (Negouai 86), Jensen, Huckerby (Edghill 45), Wanchope. Subs Not Used: Wiekens, Dickov, Nash. Sent Off: Dunne (29).
Referee: A Wiley (Burntwood).
