By Tyne Talk
December 19 2005

You are 3-1 up away at West Ham, with 15 minutes of the game to go? You are Shola Ameobi.. what do you do? Give away a penalty! It was suggested by several fans that Shola was attempting his very own "hand of God" but got the wrong end, although the striker denies these allegations ;-) SHOLA Ameobi was relieved that his handball howler didn't cost The Magpies at Upton Park at the weekend.

A nervous end to the game was set-up as the Hammers netted from the resultant spot kick, although Michael Owen finished off his 'perfect' hattrick deep into injury time.

Speaking the Official Toon website, Shola said: "Both of the goals on Saturday were mistakes, obviously I take the blame for the penalty.

"I just jumped to try and head the ball, and it hit my hand.

"No complaints, it was a penalty but I was determined not to let it affect me because there was still a quarter of an hour to go and I still had a job to do.

"After that went in it was tough, but we kept on going. You make mistakes as a player, and that was the case with me on Saturday.

"Thankfully Michael sealed it at the end, and the handball didn't go on to cost us."

Shearer9.com

As a natural striker (or at least that it what he claims to be!), Shola once again found himself wide on the left - and knew that he would be required to help out in defense at Upton Park.

He added: "I know that I have a job to do defensively as well as going forwrad when I'm out on the left.

"I have a height advantage over most players, and I had to help out at the back as well when they were pumping balls into the danger zones.

"I tried to help Robbie because Marlon Harewood is a handful on the right and can cause problems for any team.

"It was a case of me digging in and tracking back, but I'm asked to do a job for the team and that's what I tried to do.

"The most important thing on Saturday was the three points and it was great that we got them.

"We said after Arsenal that we needed to keep up that kind of display.

"It's what we've been talking about all season, getting some sort of consistency and a winning run.

"It's no good doing well one week, then slipping up the next.

"We knew it would be hard for us at West Ham because they are a good side.

"The delay with the traffic before the game wasn't ideal.

"You have to get focused on the game, and a delay like that can affect you because you have an extra half hour to hang about when you just want to get out onto the pitch.

"But we stayed focused and got off to a great start. It was a good game.

"We were disappointed with the goals we conceded, but going forward we were good and to score four goals away from home is a tremendous achievement."