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Colo Key As United Beat The Blues
Written by Newcastle Utd
Fabricio Coloccini hailed a "fantastic" victory, as United ended Chelsea's unbeaten start to the campaign
By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor
Captain Fabricio Coloccini hailed a "fantastic" victory, as Newcastle United ended Chelsea's unbeaten start to the 2014/15 campaign on Saturday.
The Blues had not tasted defeat in any competiion before they arrived at St. James' Park, but that all soon changed as Papiss Cisse's second half double gave United a clear advantage.
Although Didier Drogba pulled one back for the visitors, and Magipes defender Steven Taylor was dismissed in the incident that led to that goal, Newcastle defended superbly to claim all three points.
That was largely down to the performance of Coloccini, who was back in action after four weeks out with a calf injury.
And if he was rusty or lacking fitness, it didn't show as the Argentine put in a faultless display on Tyneside to repel attack after attack from Diego Costa and Co.
"It was a great result," Coloccini told nufc.co.uk after the final whistle.
"It was difficult for us to really play at our best because Chelsea are such a good team and had a lot of the ball.
"But we defended really well, we had good shape, good spirit and every player helped each other. That made the difference.
"A team like Chelsea make it difficult because they have so much possession, and then when we have the ball we look tired because we have been pressing them so hard.
"But we had the opportunities to score and took them, and that is fantastic for us and for the fans."
Coloccini reserved special praise for two-goal front man Cisse, who took his tally to seven for the campaign, and also 21-year-old debutant goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, who was a half-time replacement for Rob Elliot.
"Papiss is so important for us," said Coloccini.
"Number nines live for scoring goals, whether they start the game or not, and we love Papiss because that is what he can do for us.
"He was only on the pitch for about half-an-hour and scored twice, so it was a very good afternoon for him.
"Jak also did very well and I have to say congratulations to him on his first game.
"I'm very happy because he is our third goalkeeper but got his opportunity and did very well.
"It is a really big game for a young player to come in to but he went for two or three crosses immediately and punched them all away, which helped his confidence.
"He was fantastic and gave the rest of the defence confidence in him. He was a big part of our win."