Newcastle 5-0 Man United: Darren Peacock shares some uplifting tales from the dressing room; Peacock was often the unsung hero for Newcastle United but left the field with a goal and clean sheet after this famous win.

Byline: Lee Ryder

Darren Peacock looked back on Newcastle United's 5-0 demolition of Manchester United and admitted it has been the "perfect day" for Kevin Keegan's Entertainers.

It's now 20 years since the Magpies tore the Red Devils to pieces at St James' Park and Peacock says he remembers it as if it was yesterday.

Even two decades on, the Bristol-born defender still gets emotional when talking about his time on Tyneside.

He told the Chronicle: "It was a culmination of the gaffer's attacking vision and what Kevin Keegan had believed in.

"For the players it was just the perfect day.

"It's scary how quickly the time has gone really, but for me that game is still fresh in the memory.

"The way we played was just carrying out what the manager wanted us to do.

"He wanted us to attack teams and that was infused everywhere around the team."

And Peacock knows that Newcastle's popularity as a team extended beyond the terraces at St James' Park.

He said: "I think when you look back we were a lot of football fans' second team because of the way we played and because of our attacking philosophy.

"Not all the pitches were that good back then, but we still played attractive football.

"That's also the way our own supporters wanted to play. In every game we played it was just like our training sessions."

It was Peacock's goal that got the party started against Alex Ferguson's Man United team that day.

Why Newcastle's 5-0 win over Man United should never have been the pinnacle for the Entertainers

His low header had been hacked off the line by Denis Irwin but TV replays showed it was over, and the referee made the correct call to set Newcastle on the way to one of their most famous ever results.

Peacock reflected: "I was always joking that my goal was the product of hours and hours of practice on set-pieces.

"But it wasn't, we didn't do any of that.

"I was just a centre-back who ventured forward and got my head on the end of it.

"It turned out to be a moment that unnerved Man United.

"From that moment on we were unstoppable and the crowd were outstanding.

"The atmosphere that day was just overwhelming for both teams, but we knew the Geordies were on our side.

"Everything we did that day just seemed to click and we outplayed a very good Manchester United team."

Peacock was once described by Keegan as one of the only defenders who "wanted" to defend at Newcastle.

Indeed, with players such as Steve Watson, John Beresford and Philippe Albert all storming...

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