Newcastle United may well be facing an Ipswich Town side on the brink of an instant return to the Championship.
But the Tractor Boys have been known to play the role of party poopers at St James’ Park before. Back in 2002, Newcastle still had fading title ambitions but were rocked by George Burley’s side in front of a packed house.
The game was probably best remembered for the rare sight of seeing Alan Shearer miss a penalty at the Gallowgate End. Having slipped behind to a goal from Marcus Bent on 50 minutes, Newcastle were hauled back level thanks to a strike from Laurent Robert.
However, Ipswich would not lie down and Bent snatched a second on 63 minutes. With United looking like they’d not only blown a chance to stay in the title hunt, fears of losing their Champions League slot were also starting to grow.
That was until Shearer equalised with two minutes left but then later still missed from the spot to mean three potential points became one. After the game Sir Bobby Robson said: “You would have put your mortgage on Alan scoring and he is very, very disappointed but I have told him not to worry.”
Shearer took Sir Bobby’s advice and Newcastle went on to finish fourth to secure a Champions League place with 71 points while Ipswich would go down. The Portman Road side also seemed determined to upset the party mood in the final game of the Championship season in 2010.
That day, Andy Carroll had fired Newcastle ahead before Connor Whickam equalised for the visitors. Shola Ameobi did not fluff his lines from the spot late on with six minutes to go, but a 90th minute equaliser meant that Newcastle signed off from their title winning campaign at home with a draw.
Aftewards, Roy Keane, who’d been given plenty of verbal abuse as former Sunderland boss from the home crowd, blasted in his Press conference: “We have to look at whether Newcastle were in holiday mode – maybe some of them were – but I am disappointed with a draw, so if we had lost the game, I would have been properly upset.”
Eddie Howe may have been out of action but he has analysed Ipswich carefully in recent days. He said: “Ipswich have dangerous players in their team. They recently went to Bournemouth and won, and we know how hard that game is.
“I think they have had a difficult season. Their away form has been very strong, they have done better away than they have at home and that will be a frustration for them, but that is a warning sign that this will be a tough game for us
