Newcastle, guilty of missing some great chances to put the game away, ended 2009 firing blanks. There was plenty of endeavour, and arguably we’ve played worse and won, but the match against Derby was one that won’t be remembered fondly by many NUFC fans.

Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor, and Nile Ranger were the Newcastle players who failed to take their chances.

However, I reckon that we can take some positives out of the game. Yes, West Brom gained some ground on us, but if someone had offered you the position we’re in now at the start of the season, would you have taken it? I know I would. After last season left a bitter taste in my mouth all summer, it’s great to have the promotion job half done.

One thing that should be recognised though is that we need to bring in a couple of players to strengthen the first team. We’ve been fairly fortunate with injuries and still have Joey Barton to return, but there’s just over four months of hard work to come and we’re going to need some reinforcements.

An attendance of 47,505 were on hand to see the game. A Championship game which was shown on the telly, played in bitterly cold conditions, and right after Christmas. Best fans in the country? By a country mile.

Newcastle take on Bristol City this weekend looking to extend their lead at the top of the Coca Cola Championship. City, who have not won an away game all season are in confident mood after recently defeating Blackpool (Newcastle’s only league loss of the season).

A name that may be familiar to some long term Toon fans is that of Bradley Orr. Orr appeared for Newcastle juniors and reserves, but wasn’t deemed to have sufficient quality to make the first team (so no doubt he’s due to play the game of a lifetime tomorrow).

Newcastle, without Joey Barton who’s out until 2010 with a long term foot injury, will want to get the midweek draw with QPR out of their system. After the game this weekend, there won’t be a game the following week because of the international break. Let’s hope the lads give it their all and can go take a well earned rest. At this time of the season, they need it!

Newcastle’s first game back, and the entire nation were waiting for them to slip up against promotion favourites West Bromwich Albion. The prelude to the game saw Alan Shearer go on record to say that he would “dearly love” to be manager of Newcastle United.

Rumours of a bust-up within Newcastle’s camp saw Joey Barton (surprise surprise) demoted to the subs bench. The first half was pretty even with both sides having chances to take the lead. It wasn’t until Martis put West Brom ahead a few minutes before the break – Ameobi managing to take a kick at his own keeper in an attempted clearance and making sure Harper didn’t return for the second half.

All credit to the Toon though, they came out after the break looking determined to get back in the game and the equaliser came with Damien Duff being put through by Ameobi. The Newcastle squad looked absolutely knackered though and mid-way through the second-half Chris Hughton made an odd change bringing Joey Barton on for Andy Carroll. Tim Krul kept Newcastle in it with a fine display of three or four top notch saves and stand in captain Alan Smith put in a gritty and determined display at the centre of Newcastle’s midfield.

This was a decent display against the promotion favourites. However, if Newcastle don’t get in any additional players, then they’ll be in deep trouble. Coloccini looks way out of his depth even at this level, and Jonas’ final ball was very, very average. The starting eleven today had no pace whatsoever, and whoever the next Toon boss is, finding players with pace should be a top priority.