Stoke shine as Magpies out on the Toon

WHEN Giovanni Trapattoni gets down to some forward thinking today, he’ll have learned a few pointers from events at the Britannia.

Jon Walters and Leon Best are two strikers whose form in recent months has caught the eye of the Italian.

But there’s no doubt who did their international hopes better at the weekend.

Walters grabbed his eighth goal of the season when he brilliantly headed home a cross from Jermaine Pennant — a player who has publicly stated his availability for Ireland’s cause.

But Best may find himself in hot water. Boss Alan Pardew has promised to investigate after Best — injured ahead of the game on Saturday — was spotted in a Newcastle nightclub ahead of the game, along with Stephen Ireland, the Cobh man who maintains his international exile.

Pardew said: “That is a situation I have to look at on Monday morning. It is news to me. It is not an ideal situation when you have a game on Saturday, even though they are injured. I will look at that.” If they had been playing they couldn’t have done much worse than what the Magpies had on the pitch.

After Walters’ opener, Pennant then scored at the back post after goalkeeper Steve Harper made a mess of a clearance in the 46th minute.

Three minutes later Higginbotham drove a free-kick through the wall, leaving Harper rooted to the spot.

Fuller completed the scoring in stoppage time with a wonderful individual effort after a flick-on from Walters.

These are heady days for the Potters, who took another step towards securing a place in the Premier League for a fourth successive season.

The comfortable win came on the back of their FA Cup sixth-round success which set up a semi-final against Bolton at Wembley.

And Tony Pulis took the opportunity to defend his side’s oft-criticised direct approach.

He said: “In this country we take far too much notice of what other people say instead of believing in what you do and believing your own eyes.

“If people want to say things about you, whether they are complimentary or not, it makes no difference. You have got to get on and do what you believe in.

“The other thing is the club is solvent and run by a local chairman. It is not a bad model to follow.”

Newcastle manager Pardew, meanwhile, accepts his side are now looking over their shoulders, but he refused to blame veteran defender Sol Campbell for the defeat. Campbell looked slow to react for the first goal and headed the ball into Pennant’s path for the second.

Pardew said: “I do not think Sol Campbell played poorly. I thought he gave a good account of himself.”

He added: “We have to make sure we are a whole lot better in our next home game. We have Wolves next and they’ve had a great victory (against Aston Villa). That’s a big match now.”

Fuller was involved in an unseemly exchange with Joey Barton and the Newcastle midfielder responded angrily, prompting a brief scuffle among players.

Pardew said: “It wasn’t a confrontation with Fuller. Fuller just went up and kicked him and he walked off. Joey just asked him, ‘why did you kick me?’”