Newcastle late show a sickener for Rovers
NEWCASTLE United caused an FA Cup upset thanks to extratime goals from Joselu and Ayoze Perez.
Rafa Benitez had made no secret of the Premier League taking priority over this competition, despite this season marking the 50th since his club last lifted silverware.
The Spaniard says he is a realist and that the £130million guaranteed by top-flight survival is worth far more than some forlorn dream of passage in the cups.
Benitez and owner Mike Ashley agree on very little, but not when it comes to this. How sad a stance that is for a club now all but drained of ambition to be anything better than an alsoran feeding off the Premier League cash cow. Not that the players signed up to the edict from above, as they raced into a two-goal lead only to be pegged back before the break.
The first three goals of a pulsating half were scored by Newcastle academy graduates. Sean Longstaff netted inside a minute, full debutant Callum Roberts added a second and their old team-mate Adam Armstrong halved the deficit. Ireland international Darragh Lenihan then equalised and that was enough to force extra time.
There has always been a certain romance about a trip to Ewood Park for Newcastle supporters. They won here in the FA Cup en route to the final in 1999 and a semi-final 12 months later. That, of course, was when they used to try in the cup competitions.
Longstaff needed just 56 seconds to open the scoring when afforded time and space 25 yards from goal, taking advantage with a drive that found its way into net via a deflection off Amari’i Bell.
Roberts made it two on 22 minutes. Jacob Murphy scampered clear from Joselu’s flick and saw his shot saved by David Raya before recycling the rebound and crossing for Roberts to volley in.
The goals, however, had snapped Rovers from their slumber and Armstrong became the third Geordie scorer of the night on 33 minutes. Benitez never fancied the striker and he was allowed to leave for £2million in the summer.
So while he refused to celebrate after poking through the legs of Freddie Woodman, Armstrong would have enjoyed the strike against his boyhood club. If there was an air of inevitability about Armstrong coming back to haunt Benitez, then Blackburn’s equaliser carried a fair degree of predictability too.
Lenihan headed over from a corner on 35 minutes when Newcastle’s marking failed and so, when they again allowed him room from another corner before half-time, the defender didn’t decline the invitation of a goal for a second time, powering in from six yards.
When Benitez made his case for the FA Cup being a risk to their Premier League status, the example used was the injury picked up by Jonjo Shelvey in this fixture 10 days ago. At halftime he had another when Ciaran Clark retired hurt and was replaced by Jamaal Lascelles. Within 11 minutes of the second half Lascelles was limping back towards the touchline, a hamstring strain the cause of his withdrawal.
No goals followed in the 90 minutes but Joselu edged Newcastle ahead in extra-time and Perez powered home to put the issue beyond doubt soon after.