DERBY Day, according to celebrated American travel writer and Chancellor of Durham University writer Bill Bryson, breaks with "a wave of heady emotions". Invariably, he claims, it is "memorably pleasant".

It is safe to assume that Bryson, on his numerous travels across the UK, has never come across a derby like this one. Memorable - certainly. Pleasant - you have got to be joking.

Yesterday, the 125th league derby between Newcastle and Sunderland produced more thrills and spills than Bryson could ever have imagined possible.

But, while his experience of the horse-racing derby was civilised and refined, this was raw and brutal. Beauty encased within a fraught and nerve-wracked shell.

In a region where loyalties run deeper than the coal seams that historically separated Tyne from Wear, derbies are to be endured rather than enjoyed.

The spine-tingling atmosphere reflects fear as much as it wills fulfilment. Defeat is unthinkable, a result that sours a season and, more often than not, defines a career.

Success, though, can represent salvation. Yesterday, both sets of supporters were praying for a victory that would mean more than any other.

For the 50,000 Newcastle supporters packed into St James' Park, revenge was the over-riding aim. The successive 2-1 defeats inflicted by Sunderland in 1999 and 2000 still rankle.

For the 54 coach-loads of Sunderland fans the hope was redemption. A glorious payback for the club's calamitous tumble from the top-flight.

And, for one of the game's central figures, the outcome held a more practical importance. Ruud Gullit's reign was washed away in the downpour that accompanied 1999's derby defeat - could an under-fire Graeme Souness survive a similarly torrential time?

Just as pertinently, could the intensity of the game match the intensity of the occasion? The answer, when it came inside the opening 38 seconds, was undeniably affirmative.

Dean Whitehead clattered into Turkish midfielder Emre to earn the first of the game's four bookings, and the tone had been set. No quarter should be asked, and none would be given.

Similarly, there would be no respite. For the full 90 minutes of a frenetic and free-flowing encounter, both sets of players tore into each other with an urgency bordering on the manic.

The result was an avalanche of goals and a blur of excitement - if the modern game is deemed to be boring, this was a return to the helter-skelter ways of yesteryear.

The defending left a lot to be desired but, for one day only, that hardly seemed the point. This was primordial football, reflecting an enmity that dates back to the days when Newcastle supported the Crown during the English Civil War and Sunderland sided with Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarians.

Back then, opposition attacks were a matter of life and death. To paraphrase Bill Shankly, yesterday they were even more important than that.

They were also invariably effective. Shola Ameobi set the ball rolling in the 33rd minute, rising unopposed to imperiously head home Emre's left-wing corner. The striker claimed he would play for England at the start of the season - if Peter Crouch can, who knows?

Two minutes later and it was Liam Lawrence's turn. Dancing round Scott Parker, the Sunderland midfielder unleashed a venomous shot that whistled past Shay Given's left hand and nestled in the corner of the net.

Back came Newcastle for more. Stephen Carr crossed from the right, Charles N'Zogbia hooked the ball from the left, and Ameobi propelled it past Kelvin Davis.

Three goals in the blink of an eye, but the best was still to come. Cutting outside Emre and turning back inside Jean-Alain Boumsong, Stephen Elliott despatched a dazzling strike that arrowed into the top left-hand corner. The skill was unquestionable, the spirit it epitomised refused to be quenched.

But Newcastle, too, were infused with desire. A side who had looked so disinterested at Wigan last weekend, suddenly appeared desperate to make amends.

Parker was determined, Ameobi was diligent and Emre dominated like a whirling dervish. If there had to be a winner, it was going to be him.

With less than half-an-hour left, he got his chance. Standing over a 22-yard free-kick, the talented Turk bent a memorable strike past Davis' left hand. As a devout Muslim, he is unable to eat during daylight hours. Once the holy month of Ramadan finishes, though, he will be offered free meals in Newcastle for the rest of his life.

Sunderland attempted to pull level for a third time but, despite sterling efforts from Elliott and Lawrence, they were unable to salvage a point.

Mick McCarthy was speechless, Souness was saved. The rest of us were still reeling from the thrill of it all. The "heady emotions" will be unleashed again on Wearside on April 17. It is to be hoped the memories created then will be every bit as dramatic.

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