Magpies end magnificent year in frustrating fashion

After the battle that was the valiant defeat against Manchester City, Newcastle's season ended in somewhat of a damp squib as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at Everton.

In the end the result proved to be immaterial in terms of Newcastle's Champions League challenge as both Arsenal and Spurs won their final day matches to secure 3rd and 4th spot respectively. Still the loss was a slightly disappointing end to what has been a magnificent season for Alan Pardew's side.

The Magpies were behind inside the first twenty minutes, as the Toffees responded to a decent start from the visitors in emphatic fashion, Steven Pienaar's deflected long range effort looping over Tim Krul to open the scoring.

Just 12 minutes later and Everton had doubled their lead, as in-form striker Nikica Jelavic beat Fabricio Coloccini for pace before seeing his effort brilliantly saved by Krul, however the Croatian showed smart reactions to volley home the rebound and put David Moyes' men in command.

Newcastle did offer some resistance, Papiss Cisse - who was attempting to take his tally to 14 goals in 13 games - had an effort well saved by Tim Howard before the interval, but it was a poor first-half performance from a side that have set themselves exceptionally high standards this season.

Pardew made two changes after the break, the Premier League Manager of the Year brought on Ryan Taylor and Sylvain Marveaux - who made his first appearance after a lengthy injury lay-off - in place of full backs James Perch and Davide Santon.

The reshuffle looked to have had a positive effect, with Marveaux comfortable on the ball as Newcastle attacked with more purpose and creativity than they had done in the opening period. Indeed, the Geordies should have pulled a goal back when Cisse skewed an effort wide after Marveaux; Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa had linked up well to put the Senegalese international one on one with Howard.

However, the game was soon taken beyond Newcastle's reach as Everton added a third when Johnny Heitinga headed in Darron Gibson's free-kick from close range.

Just eight minutes later Newcastle were given a glimmer of hope when Toffees' full back Tony Hibbert nodded Taylor's long ball past Howard and into his own net.

It was Howard who kept Newcastle from setting up a tense finale as he brilliantly clawed away a far post header from Cisse that appeared destined for the top corner. That proved to be the Magpies' last real opportunity as the home side stood firm to seal the three points which ensured that they would finish the season above city rivals Liverpool.

There was to be one last flash point at the final whistle however, as substitute Tim Cahill was shown a red card for raising his hand at Cabaye. The incident caused a minor fracas between the two teams, but it was nothing more than a minor footnote in a relatively one-sided affair, and both sides will head to the summer break in good spirits after enjoying very impressive campaigns.

Europa League football now beckons for Newcastle and the Magpies presence in Europe represents another giant leap forward for a club that has made great strides since returning to the Premier League just two years ago.