Crew cut down to size

At last, some good news from our US tour: a comfortable victory, in the last of our three fixtures. Columbus Crew were humbled 3-0 in front of their own fans and a considerable contingent of Toon followers thanks to goals from Big Lad, captain Sideshow Bob and substitute Haris Vuckic - though it would have been a more encouraging result had our opponents not had to play half the game with ten men, 'keeper Andy Gruenebaum receiving his marching orders just before the break.

No new injuries to bemoan, though, while Sylvain Marveaux and Demba Ba both started and Mehdi Abeid was granted a five-minute cameo. There was more pitch time for Dan Gosling and James Tavernier, and Paul Dummett made his first-team debut from the bench. Jose Enrique filled the left-back role as usual - but, after Sunday's rant, for how much longer?

The Youngsters, Crims & Rejects' tour of the Netherlands came to a less satisfactory conclusion, with what on paper appears to have been an almost defenderless side going down 3-2 to Almere City. Wayne Routledge and James Perch both played the full 90 minutes, while Xisco lasted over an hour but couldn't make it onto the scoresheet. Our goals instead came from the Lone Ranger and Sammy Ameobi - thankfully this time there was no consequent pitch invasion...