2. A Draw Was Probably Fair
Newcastle hit the woodwork three times last night, and Shola Ameobi should probably have scored at least once, if not twice past a 'keeper who was apparently not too keen on leaving his goal-line, but Maritimo were impressive at times, and though they were reduced to a handful of long range efforts and one that Davide Santon saved off the line, they can be happy enough with their showing. With a striker who could have gotten on the end of their crosses, or offered a more killer outlet to their progressive passing game, the Portuguese side could well have hurt Newcastle, who were far less impressive in their build-up play, but were mostly wasteful when it came to the final moments of attack. All in all, the result was a fair reflection of what happened on the pitch, and the two teams put out, with Newcastle's better players being let down by some poor individual performances (Williamson and Obertan above all), and both sides thwarted in the six yard box - Maritimo by an impressive Rob Elliot, and Newcastle by the woodwork. Not a great deal to complain about really, though there will no doubt be an element of fans who will say that the first-team could have brushed Maritimo aside a lot easier. I'll refer those lot to the first point in this article.