Newcastle United climbed up to second place in the Coca Cola Championship after their 3-1 win over Plymouth Argyle. Newcastle made hard work of this win though and were very lackluster in the first-half. Going in 1-0 up at half-time thanks to a Steven Taylor header, Argyle came out for the second half like a team on a mission.

Determined to put their bad start to the season behind them (and where better to do it at St James’s Park?), they started the second half much the stronger and finally got the equaliser thanks to a Karl Duguid strike. After the defeat in midweek Toon boss Chris Hughton decided to give both Alan Smith and Geremi a start in our midfield – apparently Chris doesn’t think much of pace, a snail could have outran our midfield.

The game turned on it’s head though as Ranger and Guthrie came on for the disappointing Barton and Lovenkrands. The subs clearly provided the impetus we needed as their direct running caused the Plymouth defenders all kinds of problems.

Nolan then put Newcastle ahead with a header at the far post thanks to a great ball from Danny Guthrie. New father Andy Carroll then cemented the win with a cracking finish in the 84th minute.

The win leaves Newcastle second in the table, one point behind West Brom who put five goals past the Smoggies at the Riverside.