Best Buddies

While our first team was busy getting cheated out of a point (if not all three) at the DW Stadium, other Toon employees past and present were enjoying an equally eventful Sunday afternoon.

St Mirren's capture of the Scottish League Cup, their first silverware for more than 25 years, at the expense of Hearts owed a great deal to players borrowed from another side in black and white stripes south of the border. Left-back Paul Dummett supplied the assist for the Buddies' second goal, which swung the match in their favour for the first time, before fellow loanee Conor Newton rifled in what turned out to be the winner. A cup triumph in front of more than 44,000 people probably beats turning out for the Reserves each week.

There was less delight for the Silver Fox's predecessor Chris Hughton as his Norwich side travelled to the Dark Place. They were in the lead when goalkeeper Mark Bunn was harshly red-carded for handling outside the area, before old boy Sebastien Bassong was penalised for handling inside, despite Steven Fletcher being offside in the build-up. Craig Gardner scored the resulting penalty but the misfiring Mackems rarely looked likely to get a win and Hughton will be happy enough with a point in the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Saturday saw Jermaine Jenas grab his second goal in successive games on loan at QPR. The first helped defeat the Mackems at Loftus Road last week, and the latest gave 'Appy 'Arry's multi-million-pound mob the lead at Villa Park, but they couldn't hang on and remain deep in trouble.

Borstal Boys on the move while Mackems sign double agent

So, what went on of interest elsewhere?

Well, there was the Little Waster cropping up on Smogside. Tony Mowbray claims he's "looked really good in training, nice and sharp" - yes Tony, but you just wait until your next fixture and see how long he can go without picking up some kind of knack.

The Little Waster's previous club QPR were predictably frantic, adding (amongst others) another ex-Toon forgotten man, Jermaine Jenas, to their hastily assembled and grossly overpaid squad. JJ has an avowed dislike of fishbowls - I wonder how he'll fare together with the other big fish (and their egos) in that particular small pond if results don't pick up quickly...

Meanwhile, down at the Dark Place, the Mackems released Louis Saha, with chief executive Margaret Byrne "thank[ing] him for his contribution". If I didn't know wit was beyond that lot, I'd think this was a sarcastic comment about a player who failed to start a game during his six months there.

Intriguingly, his sort-of-replacement - at a sizeable cost of £5.5m - is Swansea striker Danny Graham. The born-and-bred Geordie received a warm welcome - well, a chorus of boos - when the Swans visited the Stadium of Shite on Tuesday, largely on account of some nicely disparaging comments he made to a Toon fanzine some time ago. C'mon now Agent Graham, do your duty. Here's hoping this turns out like Lee Clark all over again...