DON’T DARE INSULT MY PLAYERS Bruce defends his ‘lucky’ Toon scrappers

DEFIANT Newcastle boss Steve Bruce says he will not apologise for their boring football.

The Magpies face League One Oxford in tonight’s FA Cup fourth-round replay having been fortunate to escape with a goalless draw at St James’ Park in their first meeting. Despite a seven-game unbeaten run, Newcastle were booed off after Saturday’s 0-0 Premier League draw against bottom side Norwich. Critics claim they have been riding their luck throughout the campaign. Bruce said: “Have we been lucky? In the last couple of weeks, maybe. “But I can’t see the accumulation of points over the last seven months is luck. That’s an insult to the players. “They might not be technically the best but they go out and give as much as they can.” Only against Rochdale in the third round of the cup have

VNewcastle bossed possession this year and Bruce acknowledges he does not have the players to take a game by the scruff of its neck.

So he will continue with his pragmatic method of defending deep and taking no chances, no matter how ugly it may look on the eye.

“We could play the Norwich way quite easily but for me, it’s all about keeping the club where we need to be,” he said. “I could change us tomorrow and say ‘OK, there we go’ and be relegated.The players are comfortable in the system we have and evidence has proved to me that as soon as I open us up a little bit, we find it a struggle.

“I set us up to play this way because it suits the squad. We have not got enough quality to pass the ball around better. The two or three bits of quality we brought in last month will help but it takes time.”

Fabian Schar, Florian Lejeune and Sean Longstaff will all play tonight, as will Matty Longstaff if he passes a late fitness test.

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