The glory of newcastle united
mackem Chairman Bob Murray chose to be on a Caribbean cruise as his pathetic football club were sunk without a trace at the Stadium of Plight on Easter Monday.
Murray was in Mustique while Geordies Alan Shearer and Michael Chopra scored twice in a minute to turn around a half-time deficit.
Charles N'Zogbia and Albert Luque then finished off the job as we recorded our 50th derby win and the biggest for nearly 50 years.
We hadn't scored more than three against the unwashed since a 6-2 win in 1956/57 and it was the late 1960s when we last won by a three-goal margin. It's also 27 years since we were beaten on wearyside.
How long until the next derby we wonder? At least in the Premiership....
For an hour however, there was nothing to suggest that we would equalise a first half Justin Hoyte goal, let alone put four past the hapless hicks.
That brought a mini pitch invasion by home fans, but as in previous years the police and stewards inexplicably allowed the trespassers to return to their places rather than hoy them out.
The introduction of local lad Chopra for the struggling Lee Clark on the hour proved to be the turning point for us, and within seconds Chops had got us back on terms with his first Premiership strike - right in front of the away contingent.
A minute later Shearer signed off his derby career with a penalty to wipe out the memory of the one he missed at St. James' and the game was turned on its head.
Charles N'Zogbia who had been a little out of sorts then waltzed through to get our third and as the travelling fans pointed out "we only played for seven minutes".
Shearer then limped off after suffering what looked like a serious knee injury in a collision with Tommy Miller - will we see him kick a ball in anger again (see below)?
Al was replaced by Albert Luque and the Spaniard finally got the goal that had eluding him in his 17 previous outings, as we firmly nailed down the mackem coffin lid.
Glenn Roeder punched the air from the sidelines and the smiles on the ecstatic Chopra and Shearer when they scored were worth any piece of silverware.
Equally joyous was the sight of mackems deserting the sinking ship, including one who tried to get to the celebrating Shearer and had to be removed forcibly by four members of the local constabulary.
But the funniest moment of the day (aside seeing Luque score) had to be the mackem groundsman responding to post-match taunts from the travelling fans, throwing down his bundle of corner flags before being restrained by stewards as he tried to get at the mags - who were by now doubled up with laughter.
In a final show of petulance the miserable mackem then removed his coat and threw it to the ground to the cheers of the jubilant Mags. If only they were still filming Premier Passions....
As well as the glory of trouncing the tramps in their own back yard, the win moved us up to a fantastic seventh in the table and with defeats for West Ham and Everton our chances of UEFA Cup qualification has been given a massive boost.
