Football is overflowing with tales of teams bottling it in the big games. England and their numerous penalty shoot-out failures immediately springs to mind while just this season Liverpool choked in their failed pursuit of a first Premier League title in over 20 years. But why is there a tendency for teams to crumble in the pressure-cooker situations that require a sound mind and as sturdy backbone? The causes are usually psychological with a fear and lack of belief usually cited as the major causes. Newcastle have also endured their fair share of hiccups in the pursuit of glory, both domestically and on the European stage. Most famously in the 1995/96 when Kevin Keegan's 'Entertainers' side blew an insurmountable 12-point lead to concede the Premier League crown to Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson in the greatest battle of wits between two managers the top-flight has ever witnessed. And that is arguably the best place to start as we round up the 10 biggest games that Newcastle have bottled.
10. Nottingham Forest 1-1 NUFC
Competition: Premier League Season: 1995/96 By the time we travelled to the City Ground in the penultimate match of the season Manchester United had turned a 12-point deficit into a three-point that left Kevin Keegan's men knowing victory against Nottingham Forest to was their only hope of being crowned Premier League champions. All seemed to be going smoothly when Peter Beardsley slalomed towards the Forest penalty area and crashed the ball into the top corner to give us the lead just after the half hour mark. Now the objective for Newcastle was to preserve and improve that lead without conceding in order to chip away at the Red Devils' superior goal difference. Making it to the break with the scoreline intact enhanced the feeling that we would end the night level on points with Sir Alex Ferguson's side heading into the final day decider. Then disaster struck. Forest had been a tough nut to crack after Beardsley's goal and with 15 minutes remaining Ian Woan dealt a fatal blow to our title hopes when he made it 1-1 to leave Keegan, the players and every Magpies fan shellshocked. Our response was frantic but futile as we ended up having to settle for a point that consigned us to being runners up.
