This will be the 20th time Newcastle have visited Vicarage Road. The first time was back in 1924 when we met them in the FA Cup 3rd Round and lost 1-0. Six of those meetings have been in cup competitions including three played in 1988/9. Our record at home against them reads won 7, drawn 9 and lost 3, scoring 28 and conceding 21. The last time they beat us at home was in 90/91 when we lost 2-1 in the old Division 2.
Back in early December we lost 2-0 in a closely fought game at St.James'. The 'Toon last visited us on the final day of the Premiership season in 2006/7 when we bid goodbye to the top flight with a 1-1 draw. Marlon King equalised with a penalty for us.
Newcastle are currently top with 66 points from 32 games. Their away record for this season is won 6, drawn 5, lost 4. The losses were at Blackpool, Scunny, Forest and Derby. In their last away match they drew 1-1 with Swansea. Last Saturday they beat Preston 3-0 at home.
Hopefully Mike Williamson will decide that he is fit enough to face us given that last time he was involved in a Hornets fixture he self-diagnosed he wasn't up to the job thus forcing a move to Pompey. What a shame he managed to escape instead of Smudger. He's told the Newcastle website that he'll put his goodwill to one side for the afternoon. I'm sure we'll all do the same.
