Owen doubles up to sink Sunderland
6:25pm Sunday 20th April 2008
MICHAEL Owen has enjoyed a complex relationship with Newcastle supporters since completing a club-record move from Real Madrid, but after yesterday's 139th Tyne-Wear derby, the sniping and the sub-plots will be no more.
When he wakes up this morning, Owen will do so as a bona fide Magpies legend. Two goals to beat Sunderland, and his place amongst the pantheon of black-and-white greats has been assured.
"Maybe our supporters needed a little bit of time to learn to love Michael, but that's only because he hasn't played too many games because of injury," said Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan, whose personal derby record now reads played five, won five. "But if they don't like him now, then I'd very surprised. I think they know a great player when they see one."
Injuries and perceived international priorities had hitherto prevented Owen from becoming the latest in a long line of centre-forwards to capture Tyneside hearts, but yesterday's game will surely come to be regarded as the point at which Newcastle supporters exchanged suspicion for worship.
The euphoric reaction which greeted Owen's fourth-minute opener was the sound of doubts being shelved, and they disappeared entirely when the Magpies skipper scored a second from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.
The brace was enough to break Sunderland's limited resistance, secure Newcastle's third successive Tyne-Wear derby win at St James' Park and make the Magpies' Premier League status mathematically certain with three games of the season to play. It also cemented Owen's position as Newcastle's latest footballing legend.
This was supposed to be a Tyne-Wear derby with little riding on it. It certainly didn't feel that way as the home support serenaded their number ten at the final whistle.
Quite what the result means to Sunderland will become clear in the next three weeks. Strangely subdued throughout, Roy Keane's side are now just five points clear of safety thanks to Bolton's surprise victory at Middlesbrough at the weekend.
The Black Cats entertain Boro on Saturday, and a win would just about be sufficient to secure Premier League football for a second successive season. Lose, though, and the fall-out from yesterday's game could be catastrophic.
This was supposed to be the match when Keane's rebuilding programme came to fruition. Instead, it was the paucity of Sunderland's resources that became clear. Robbed of two of their leading lights, the visitors lacked both invention and inspiration. In many ways, it will have been the routine nature of their side's defeat that will have hurt Sunderland supporters most.
In the Wearsiders' defence, perhaps their best chance of springing a surprise vanished in the 48 hours before kick-off. The training-ground injuries that robbed the Black Cats of the services of both Jonny Evans and Phil Bardsley forced Keane to alter his back four for the first time since late January.
Suffice to say that the resultant reshuffle was anything but a success. Paul McShane, making his first start since January 19, was at fault as Newcastle grabbed a fourth-minute lead and Danny Higginbotham, equally as under-employed since struggling in the first third of the season, was culpable as Owen doubled the hosts' advantage on the stroke of half-time.
The two goals book-ended a ragged first half in which neither side achieved any sort of cohesion, but for those of a black-and-white persuasion, the general lack of quality did not matter. A two-goal advantage is sufficient to make any 45 minutes of derby football a pleasurable experience.
It was particularly enjoyable for Owen, skippering a Newcastle side against the auld enemy for the first occasion, and after promising to go "all out for victory" in his programme notes, it did not take the Magpies marksman long to live up to his words.
One-hundred-and-ninety seconds - not quite long enough for the wall of sound that greeted the two sides' arrival on to the field to have dissipated, but more than sufficient for any early red-and-white optimism to disappear.
Newcastle have scored some magnificently-worked goals during their current unbeaten run, but this was about as easy as they come.
Geremi delivered a curling centre from the right, Owen ghosted beyond the dawdling McShane at the back post, and with a simplicity that belied the deftness of the execution, the Newcastle skipper glanced a precise header beyond Craig Gordon and into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
The success of Owen's new withdrawn role depends on his ability to make well-timed late runs into the penalty box. If he plays against as immobile a defender as McShane every week, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
And if he plays against a side containing both McShane and Higginbotham on a regular basis, he can expect to finish the season as the country's leading goalscorer.
Forty-one minutes after McShane's laxity allowed Owen to open the scoring, Higginbotham's error enabled the Newcastle number ten to double his side's advantage.
Owen's one-two with Mark Viduka ripped the Sunderland backline apart - the Australian's backheel into his team-mate's path was the best pass of the entire 90 minutes - and as Owen chipped the ball towards goal, the sliding Higginbotham blocked its progress with his arm.
The penalty decision was a simple one, and while Gordon guessed right, the power of Owen's spot-kick was sufficient to beat the Sunderland goalkeeper.
Two mistakes, two goals, too easy. Keane's replacements had effectively handed Newcastle a 51st derby win on a plate.
Sunderland's failings were all too obvious, yet it would be wrong to overlook Owen's successful exploitation of them. The England international's first-half double made it six goals in six matches, a return that would have been all but unthinkable a month or two ago, but one that underlines the extent of the confidence that is currently coursing through the 28-year-old's veins.
Owen was Newcastle's director in chief for the majority of the afternoon, orchestrating his side's attacking moves and proving difficult to pick up in the hole behind Obafemi Martins and Viduka. That he remains arguably the most prolific finisher in the Premier League to boot makes his new contract an even more urgent priority on Tyneside.
In truth, Owen's composure appeared slightly out of place during a game that was typically high on effort, but which also featured two sides desperately poor at retaining possession.
Jose Enrique and Geremi were the worst offenders in black-and-white, with Daryl Murphy and Kenwyne Jones matching them for profligacy at the opposite end of the field, and, Owen's goals apart, there was little precious little goalmouth excitement.
Gordon turned Habib Beye's first-half shot around the upright, and both Dean Whitehead and Andy Reid shot over the crossbar for the visitors, but it was to be until the 68th minute before either goalkeeper covered themselves in glory.
Gordon blocked Martins' close-range shot with his chest, before Steve Harper produced an even better save to turn Jones' eight-yard header around the post. It was to be the only time in the game that the Newcastle shot-stopper was forced to break sweat.