A John Carew hat-trick helped Aston Villa to a comfortable 4-1 home win over Kevin Keegan's Newcastle.
Carew hat-trick stretches Keegan's winless run
Kevin Keegan remains without a win in his second spell as Newcastle manager as John Carew hit a hat-trick to help Aston Villa come from behind to secure a 4-1 win at Villa Park.
Michael Owen headed Newcastle in front on four minutes when he met an inch-perfect James Milner cross to net his second goal in as many games for the Magpies.
Villa struggled to create in the first half, but after the interval the home side emerged a different team and were rewarded with two goals in three minutes as Wilfred Bouma fired in via a deflection off Newcastle defender Habib Beye on 48 minutes.
Carew then met an Ashley Young corner on 51 minutes to flick a header past Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given.
The Norwegian forward helped himself to his second as Newcastle failed to clear another corner and he nodded in from close range on 72 minutes.
Hat-trick
Carew claimed his hat-trick on the stroke of full-time as Newcastle defender Stephen Carr handled in the 18-yard area and Carew smashed home his third, and Villa's fourth, from the penalty spot to stretch Keegan's winless run upon his return to Tyneside to five matches.
Villa clearly missed the presence of the injured Gabriel Agbonlahor up front in the first half.
But the introduction of Marlon Harewood at half-time made a big difference and the former West Ham forward troubled Newcastle with his physical power.
Newcastle will take some heart from their first half performance with James Milner a threat from the right flank against the club he spent a season on loan with.
But Keegan will be concerned with the way his side were overwhelmed for long periods once Villa had stepped up a gear.
Villa started brightly and Shaun Maloney did well to latch onto a flick on from John Carew and hold off the challenge of Claudio Cacapa before squaring the ball back to Stiliyan Petrov.
However, after four minutes Newcastle went ahead as Damien Duff's initial cross was charged down but Milner picked up the loose ball and delivered an inviting cross towards the near post for Owen to covert.
It was a perfect pick-me-up for Owen after being left on the substitutes' bench by new England coach Fabio Capello throughout Wednesday's friendly international with Switzerland.
Villa immediately tried to retaliate and Gareth Barry appealed in vain for a penalty after his fierce volley appeared to strike the hand of Joey Barton.
Recovery
The deflection wrong-footed Given but also took some of the pace out of the shot and he was able to recover and retrieve the situation before the ball crossed the line.
Villa winger Young was being doubled-marked but still got in a cross which found its way to Olof Mellberg at the far post although he could not keep his shot down.
Martin O'Neill's side then had their best chance of the first half three minutes before the interval when Given did well to keep out a close-range header from Carew.
O'Neill decided to make a double half-time substitution replacing Mellberg and the ineffective Petrov with Craig Gardner and Harewood.
And the home side turned their fortunes around by striking twice in the first six minutes of the second half through Bouma and Carew.
Bouma brought the Holte End to its feet with his first goal for Villa after nearly three years at the club as Shaun Maloney won the ball on the left and turned it back into the path of the Dutch international whose low left-footed shot took a deflection which wrong-footed Given and flew into the corner of the net.
Given injury
Then three minutes later Carew put Villa in front with his seventh goal of the campaign as he met Young's inswinging corner.
Things then got worse for Newcastle as they were forced to make a substitution with the as Given sustained a groin injury and was replaced between the posts by Steve Harper.
Harper made two superb saves in quick succession to keep out fierce drives from Gardner as Villa dominated.
But with 18 minutes remaining Carew headed home for the second time to put Villa 3-1 ahead as Maloney's shot from a Young corner was deflected across goal.
Then with seconds remaining Carew completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after Carr handled.
| Aston Villa |
Team Statistics |
Newcastle United |
| 4 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
2 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 7 |
Corners |
5 |
| 21 |
Fouls |
12 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
0 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 67.5 |
Passing Success |
67.7 |
| 17 |
Tackles |
20 |
| 88.2 |
Tackles Success |
70 |
| 43.3 |
Possession |
56.7 |
| 50.7 |
Territorial Advantage |
49.3 |
|
