No Longer A Duffer

When Habib Beye was incorrectly sent off for bringing down Robinho in the area after just 14 minutes and the Brazilian converted the penalty I, like most of those inside St James's Park , feared the worst.

Manchester City looked slick and menacing when they went forward and, with just ten men, Newcastle looked as though they would be sliced apart like a chain saw making its way through a sheet of tracing paper.

But they weren't and if Joe Kinnear has done anything as United manager he has stopped the players feeling sorry for themselves, he has restored a sense of pride in the dressing room and he has got them working as a unit where each player is prepared to put his hand in the fire for the collective cause.

Nobody shirked their responsibilities - although Andy Carroll did go to sleep in the build up to Man City's late equaliser - and even when Beye was dismissed you did not sense heads going down. Before Kinnear arrived, Newcastle would have folded and it would have only been a question of how heavy the defeat was rather than whether the home side would find a way back into it as a meaningful contest.

That they did force an equaliser owed much to good fortune - City's defenders clattering their clearances against each other - but it also owed as much to the composure of Shola Ameobi. Few players have attracted more criticism than Ameobi in recent years, but he was superb against City and took his goal really well.

It was one of those performances which explained you why so many managers have kept faith with him. Ameobi has always been admired by his teammates because they see his ability in training, but this was a belated reminder of what a threat he can also be in the Premier League.

Some people concentrated on the slightly lucky sliced finish, but I prefer to concentrate on the calm chest down in the area which took him away from the two defenders and allowed him to guide the ball past Joe Hart with the help of his shin pad!

Kinnear has likened him to John Fashanu which may be a little far-fetched when you consider Fash the Bash was a constant goal threat in the air and Shola has scored about as many goals with his head as Peter Kay's recent X-Factor spoof got laughs, but it has put a spring in his step at least.

On that subject, Kay is a fat bloke from Bolton who used to be funny, but who now appears more interested in trying to prove he is also a talented singer. He's not and I didn't need a convoluted spoof show, in which the last 15 minutes were effectively an extended advert for his new single, to tell me that.

I'd also like to single out Damien Duff for special praise. I've criticised the guy in the past and his form since his £5m move from Chelsea two years ago has been extremely poor. He gave the impression of a player who had only signed for Newcastle because of the money, content to wind down his days in the North East before opening a pub - I speculate of course - in Ireland

However, with the injuries and a full pre-season behind him, Duff has been a revelation this season and has started to look like the exciting winger we knew and begrudgingly admired at Blackburn and Chelsea.

He is even beating men again with the ball at his feet, as well as working up and down the pitch for the sake of the team. Okay so he should have done better than shoot straight at Hart when one-on-one in the first half, but that was the only real blemish.

He is going to be a very important player for Newcastle in the coming weeks and months and I just hope he stays injury free. It's been a long time coming, but better late than never!

As for Manchester City, they have got millions of pounds to spend in the transfer market, but they already look like a band of highly-paid individuals rather than a team and that's before the Arabs get their cheque books out again in January. I wonder whether Mark Hughes will still be in charge when they do!? Come to think of it, perhaps Joe Kinnear will out live him! Just a thought.