Source: FOOTYMAD
Why Did Taylor Always Love Playing Against The Toon?
The last time we played at Wigan ... 2008/9 WIGAN 2 NEWCASTLE 1 WIGAN: Kirkland, Melchiot, Bramble, Scharner, Figueroa, Valencia, Cattermole, Palacios (Kilbane 90), Taylor (Brown 71), Heskey (Camara 85), Zaki. Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Koumas, Boyce, De Ridder. NEWCASTLE: Given, Beye (Taylor 38), Coloccini, Bassong, N'Zogbia, Gutierrez, Butt, Guthrie, Duff, Owen (Edgar 77),Viduka (Carroll 68). Subs Not Used: Harper, Xisco, Geremi, LuaLua. Att: 20,266 Newcastle United must be sick of the sight of Ryan Taylor. The midfielder, whose career has been plagued by injury problems, has scored only six goals in his career for Wigan but four of them have been against Newcastle. The latest demonstrated just why this month Taylor was voted the best free-kick taker in the club's history. His 25-yard right-foot shot which fairly flew past goalkeeper Shay Given was the highlight of a wonderfully entertaining and spiky encounter between two clubs locked in mid-table anonymity. Amr Zaki also scored from the penalty spot after Emile Heskey had been brought down by Sebastien Bassong, who was immediately shown the red card. But it was Taylor who summed up the confidence coursing through a Wigan side who are steadily climbing the table. Not bad for a player who a few months ago found himself sitting next to former boxer Frank Bruno at a health centre as he underwent daily kriotherapy sessions at a temperature of minus 125 degrees to treat a mystery shin complaint. Taylor's strike was the highlight of a superbly fluid attacking performance from Wigan. It was also in stark contrast to the fortunes of Newcastle whose day started badly when they lost Jose Sanchez Enrique to injury in the warm-up. Mark Viduka was promoted to the starting line-up but, as if to underline that things are not running to order entirely at Joe Kinnear's Newcastle, Viduka was substituted himself halfway through the second-half. The big Australian showed his displeasure by walking off before substitute Andrew Carroll was ready to come on, which prompted chants of 'You're not fit to wear the shirt' from the travelling fans. It was a bad day, however, for so many in a Newcastle shirt. For Michael Owen in particular, who you could not help compare with Emile Heskey, who was the attacking thrust of so many of Wigan's best moments. Liverpool are said to be ready to offer £4m for Heskey in the January transfer window and he would be a big loss at the JJB Stadium. Owen might have given Newcastle the lead in the 14th minute when he slipped the Wigan offside trap and bore down on goalkeeper Chris Kirkland. It was the sort of chance Owen at his peak would have accepted with the minimum of fuss but he dawdled over his shot and allowed Wigan defender Paul Scharner to get in the saving tackle. Wigan, however, were increasingly dangerous and Zaki went close before a wonderful angled run by Antonio Valencia ended with the winger flicking the ball just the wrong side of the post. When the goal came in the 29th minute it was inevitable and from such a familiar source. It started with Jonas Gutierrez fouling Zaki on the edge of the box. It was the type of area and distance Taylor has made his specialist subject and he did not disappoint, rifling a right-foot shot into Given's right-hand corner in what was by some distance the most spectacular strike of the match. If anything it came against the run of play but Newcastle suffered more problems five minutes later when defender Habib Beye was carried off after being caught by a reckless lunge from Lee Cattermole. The Wigan midfielder received the yellow card from referee Mike Dean and, in truth, it could easily have been red. Given was much the busier goalkeeper in the second half, producing the save of the match when he turned a Taylor shot around the post. For the most part Wigan were in charge and the penalty came when Bassong brought down Heskey after a running battle into the penalty area. Referee Mike Dean had no option but to send off Bassong. Zaki dispatched the spot-kick to set up a thrilling and frantic finale in which Danny Guthrie scored from the spot after Kirkland had brought down Andrew Carroll. TOON v WIGAN - THE HISTORY .... 2010/2011 Sat 16 Oct Newcastle Utd. 2 - 2 Wigan Ath. Premier League 2008/2009 Fri 26 Dec Wigan Ath. 2 - 1 Newcastle Utd. Premier League Sat 15 Nov Newcastle Utd. 2 - 2 Wigan Ath. Premier League 2007/2008 Wed 26 Dec Wigan Ath. 1 - 0 Newcastle Utd. Premier League Sat 01 Sep Newcastle Utd. 1 - 0 Wigan Ath. Premier League 2006/2007 Sun 25 Feb Wigan Ath. 1 - 0 Newcastle Utd. Premiership Sat 19 Aug Newcastle Utd. 2 - 1 Wigan Ath. Premiership 2005/2006 Sat 15 Apr Newcastle Utd. 3 - 1 Wigan Ath. Premiership Wed 30 Nov Wigan Ath. 1 - 0 Newcastle Utd. League Cup Sat 15 Oct Wigan Ath. 1 - 0 Newcastle Utd. Premiership 1953/1954 Wed 13 Jan Wigan Ath. 2 - 3 Newcastle Utd. F.A. Cup Sat 09 Jan Newcastle Utd. 2 - 2 Wigan Ath. F.A. Cup
