A make-shift Ipswich team were soundly beaten 4-1 by Newcastle United at St James Park, to send the Tractor Boys crashing out of the Worthington Cup...

Oh Well. We didn't really want to win this one really did we? The way I see it, there are two positives to be had from this game. Firstly, we won the second half 1-0, and secondly, our young 17 year-old prodigy Darren Bent scored the first senior goal of his career. It's not that Ipswich actually started that badly either. In fact Armstrong and Counago both had opportunities to open the scoring early on, but neither could oblige. The signs were not there, that we were in for a very torrid night. It was actually a Matt Holland mistake that opened the floodgates after 18 minutes, when his pass could only find Rob Lee, who in turn fed the breaking Solano. Laurent Robert was unmarked, and fired Solano's pass hard into the net. Again, Town had a couple of chances to hit back, but couldn't take them. Eight minutes later it was two. Alan Shearer crossed to Ameobi, who easily side footed past Sereni. Next, it was the Shearer show. Newcastle were tearing a shapeless Town apart at this stage, with Solano causing havoc. After 37 minutes, he was the creator again for the Magpies, crossing for Shearer to tap in. If it was a boxing match, the ref would have stopped it, but unfortunately there was more to come. Just before half time, it was the same combination, Solano setting up Shearer. At 4-0, you wondered at half time just how many we could lose by. But thankfully, the defence held up somewhat better in the second half. The players rallied to produce a plucky second period, as Newcastle finally ran out of steam. The morale boosting final goal of the match came in the 77th minute, when Clapham played a good through ball for Bent to chase. The youngster showed Henry-style speed to nip in and poke the ball past Harper. At last the Town fans had something to cheer for their troubles. It's not worth dwelling on this defeat. It was a patched up Town team, and Newcastle in their own back yard were just far too strong. It will be a very different side that plays against Arsenal on Saturday, and I don't think this scoreline should be taken too much notice of. It will be Alan Shearer who wins all the plaudits for becoming the ninth Newcastle player to score a hundred goals, and rightly so. But as far as Ipswich fans are concerned, while tonight saw a landmark reached by a former England great, a future England striker took his first step towards the big time with a well-taken goal. From The Terrace