Newcastle v Sunderland: full time report
Newcastle 5 Sunderland 1
A stunning hat-trick from Newcastle captain Kevin Nolan and a further brace from Shola Ameobi earned the Magpies a famous 5-1 victory against rivals Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby.
Nolan broke the deadlock midway through the first half with an acrobatic finish and doubled his side's advantage with a neat tap-in 10 minutes later.
Ameobi grabbed his first of the afternoon on the stroke of half-time with a well-taken penalty, while the visitors had Titus Bramble sent-off minutes after the interval for a foul on the superb Andy Carroll. Nolan then sealed his hat-trick with a header, before Ameobi completed the rout.
Darren Bent grabbed a consolation on the stroke of full-time, but it wasn't enough to sour a memorable afternoon for the Newcastle faithful.
Buoyed by a deafening atmosphere inside St James' Park, Chris Hughton's side were utterly dominant and deservedly inflicted a ruthless thrashing against their neighbours.
Rather surprisingly, Sunderland began the first 10 minutes on top, and went close to opening the scoring through two of their England U21 internationals. First, Danny Welbeck had a shot deflected wide after running half the length of the pitch, before Jordan Henderson hit a speculative long-range effort which flew narrowly over Tim Krul's crossbar.
Unfortunately for Steve Bruce, this brief period would rank among the highlights of a thoroughly dreadful afternoon for his side.
Once Amoebi nearly put the hosts ahead just after the 20th minute, it was all Newcastle for almost the entire afternoon.
Spurred on by that narrow miss, the Magpies began to pile on the pressure. And they were soon rewarded for their persistence as Nolan's improvised overhead kick from inside the six-yard box sailed into the roof of the Sunderland net, sending the Toon supporters into raptures.
Just under 10 minutes later, the Newcastle skipper then grabbed his sixth goal of the season, latching on to a mis-hit shot from his lodger, Carroll, before turning the ball into the net and wheeling away in celebration.
Left shell-shocked by that Nolan double-salvo, Bruce reacted by throwing on Ballon d'Or contender Asamoah Gyan in place of Ahmed Elmohamady, five minutes before the break.
But in first-half injury time, a foul by Nedum Onuoha on Jonas Gutierrez left referee Phil Dowd with no option but to point to the spot. Despite Nolan just one goal away from becoming the first player since Peter Beardsley in 1985 to score three against the Magpies' great rivals, it was Ameobi who stepped up and confidently dispatched his shot low past Simon Mignolet, to leave Bruce's side with a mountain to climb over the next 45 minutes.
Things went from bad to significantly worse for the visitors five minutes after the interval as Bramble was sent-off against his former employers.
A poorly timed challenge on the lively Carroll by the Sunderland centre-back, who was deemed the last man by the referee, resulted in a straight red card being brandished – ending Sunderland's hopes of an unlikely fight back.
With 20 minutes of the match remaining, the Black Cats' misery was compounded as Ameobi slammed in a fourth.
A dangerously whipped-in cross from the right wing by Danny Simpson found the towering Carroll, whose header cannoned off the crossbar. With Mignolet now out of position, Ameobi was able to find the back of the net with a confident, rifled finish from inside the penalty area.
The Sunderland fans had endured enough torture for one afternoon and made way for the exits in their droves. But before they had a chance to leave the stadium, Nolan made it five.
The talismanic skipper cemented his place in Newcastle folklore with a close-range header from an Ameobi flick-on, to seal his first Premier League hat-trick and secure a famous victory for his triumphant side in the process.
Bent pulled back a consolation on the 90th minute after poking home a John Mensah knockdown, but it wasn't nearly enough to raise a smile from either the striker, or his despondent manager.
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