Magpies steamroll Spurs

Newcastle United fought back from a goal down to steamroll Tottenham 4-1 at White Hart Lane.

Despite a lively start by the visitors it was the home side who forged ahead when Darren Bent headed home Steed Malbranque's cross past Steve Harper.

The game changed on the stroke of half-time with Nicky Butt bagging a precious equaliser following a mistake by Jonathan Woodgate.

The Magpies swamped Spurs after the interval with Geremi's free-kick giving them a lead they would not lose.

Michael Owen's well-taken third gave the home side a mountain to climb before Obafemi Martins' late effort added the icing on the cake.

The win virtually secures Newcastle's top flight status for another season, while Spurs fans will be wondering what went wrong on what appeared to be a promising afternoon.

Woodgate welcomed the Newcastle staff he worked with at St James' Park - then almost gifted his former side a fifth-minute opener.

Crossbar

His careless clearance went as far as Habib Beye, who composed himself in the penalty area but cracked his finish off the crossbar.

In Newcastle's bright opening, Paul Robinson was called into action to stop Martins' low drive when he found a yard of room on the edge of the box.

It was an easy save from Robinson, but there was nothing straightforward about his stop to deny Joey Barton, who angled a drive towards the bottom corner after Spurs failed to deal with a throw.

Keane had a penalty shout turned down when Abdoulaye Faye climbed on him to head clear and from the corner he was almost on the goalline when he stabbed wide, following in Woodgate's saved header.

For all of Keane's invention, it was Bent who opened the scoring in the 26th minute.

Steed Malbranque was given time on the left flank to switch the ball to his favoured right boot, then he swung over a cross that Bent glanced into the far corner.

Denied

It could have been worse when Bent raced through again. He was denied by Harper rushing out and Dimitar Berbatov blasted the rebound over the crossbar.

Newcastle's equaliser came with seconds remaining in the first half, with Butt steering home after Geremi had pulled the ball back to the edge of the area.

Free-kick

Their second came in the 52nd minute after Woodgate had fouled Martins on the edge of the area. Geremi's free-kick went through the wall, leaving Robinson flat-footed.

The third, however, arrived in the 65th minute from Owen, meeting Mark Viduka's flick with a first-time finish after Geremi played the ball into the danger zone.

Martins added gloss to scoreline, with his finish delighting the travelling support.

Tottenham Hotspur	Team Statistics	Newcastle United
1	Goals	4
1	1st Half Goals	1
4	Shots on Target	8
7	Shots off Target	8
6	Blocked Shots	2
6	Corners	7
12	Fouls	8
0	Offsides	4
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
81	Passing Success	80.7
25	Tackles	24
64	Tackles Success	87.5
47.9	Possession	52.1
54.8	Territorial Advantage	45.2