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Roeder praise for stand-in striker

By Paul Tully

GLENN Roeder handed out praise to his two stand-in striker Giuseppe Rossi and Damien Duff - despite their failure to hit the target against Charlton Athletic at St. James' Park.

With the three main forwards all injured, loanee Rossi and winger Duff led the line and Roeder said: "I asked Damien Duff to play in an unfamiliar striking role. He is a fantastic professional to work with - you can ask him to play anywhere and he will say `yes' with a smile on his face.

"He's played wide right, wide left, and as a striker today. We started the game with one natural striker, and as well as young Rossi played, it's an awful big ask for a 19-year-old to lead the line for Newcastle United.

"I thought he did it really well until he tired in the last 10 or 15 minutes, but I left him on because if a chance fell his way he would know what to do with it."Duff was denied a goalscoring chance when Charlton defender Soulemayne Diawara clipped his heels on the edge of the box after 28 minutes, though no foul was given by referee Mike Dean.

And Roeder said: "Damien was clean through then clipped and brought down. Why would Damien want to fall over when he was in on the keeper?"

posted by giusepperossi.blogspot.com @ 2:22 PM