The official figure last night was 10,000 and I think that maybe it was close to it. The pitch looked good, definitely better than last year. And the game and atmosphere was the best since the demise of the Breakers.
The first half was a fairly lacklustre affair to my mind with the only opportunity coming from Newcastle's Griffiths, when the ball bounced up between him and the goal keeper. Griffith tried to head the ball just over the keeper's reach but the keeper was up to the task, putting it over the crossbar.
In what turned out to be decisive, McBreen was replaced by Masi late in the half when McBreen received a bad knock to his knee.
The second half had everything. Football and a boxing match. Early in the first half, after Middleby clipped the keeper's head while trying to jump out of a close run for the ball, there was an all in brawl, with only the prostrate Knight's keeper and the lonely United keeper out of it. This fight must have fired up Newcastle because within two minutes Masi put in a header to make it 1-0.
The rest of the match was basically between Newcastle and the Knight's keeper. Without the keeper it would have been at least 3-0, but he kept them well and truly in the game. The Knight's looked dangerous a couple of times during the game but their shots were never on target.
Best players on the night I thought were the Knight's keeper, Middleby and Griffiths. Overall, for a first game out it was a fairly good match, but I think if either team are going to be there at the end they'll need to improve a bit more.