Newcastle Promotion Push Regains Momentum

It is difficult to pick out a man of the match. I thought Kevin Nolan had his best game in weeks, Wayne Routledge offered pace and penetration down the right flank, Danny Guthrie was lively and added some energy in the middle of the park, Patrick Van Aanholt looks a tremendous prospect, but if I'm pushed I'd have to give it to Andy Carroll.

As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm worried about Carroll, worried that he will end up wasting his talent because of his liking for the good life off the pitch, worried that he will fall into one of the many traps and pitfalls which litter the path of every young footballer.

At 20, Carroll has already had more than his fair share of unwanted publicity and was bailed by police earlier this week following an investigation into an alleged assault before Christmas.

It should be more than just an inconvenience, it should be a distraction, but Carroll was superb on Friday night. In fact, he was unplayable at times in the air. He had a hand in all three of Newcastle's first-half goals and should have been rewarded with a hat-trick.

With the number nine shirt deliberately kept vacant by Chris Hughton this season, it was a performance which suggested he is the natural heir to Alan Shearer, but these are the standards he has to maintain.

It's no good producing them once or twice a season and then dining out on the acclaim. Shearer did it week in, week out and that must be Carroll's aim.

I hope he does it, I really do. There is nothing quite like seeing a local boy come good and as long as Carroll has learnt from his mistakes he has a chance of becoming a wonderful player.

At the moment, though, it is just a chance and as every striker knows, chances can either be taken or missed.

What was evident on Friday night was the Newcastle finally have some pace in the team. I've fretted before about what would happen should Jonas Gutierrez pick up a long term injury as, while his final ball may too often let him down, he is the only player capable of making defenders back peddle and normally needs two men to deal with him on the left. Look at Newcastle's performance against Leicester and you'll see what I mean.

But with Routledge on the other flank, United were able to stretch Cardiff down both wings and Carroll, Leon Best and later, Peter Lovenkrands, benefited as a result.

Personally, I felt Lovenkrands was unlucky to only be on the bench again, but I suppose everyone wanted to see Best in action.

His debut was an unspectacular one, but hopefully better things will come from him once he has settled down although I can't see him starting at Derby on Tuesday night after Lovenkrands' two goals against the Welsh.

In fact, the only negative was the crowd trouble around the stadium before and after kick-off, although surely someone has now realised it's not a good idea to play a game against, shall we say, volatile opponents on a Friday night.

A toxic recipe for trouble, although most of it seems to have been snuffed out before it got out of control as far as I know.