Toon looking Fraser sharp
NEW BOY RYAN HITS WINNER ON DEBUT
Newcastle 1 Blackburn Rovers 0 RYAN FRASER grabbed a debut goal to send Newcastle into the Carabao Cup third round for the first time in four years.
Rarely do seasons start so smoothly, and with a refreshing dose of optimism, on Tyneside, even if they were hanging on at the end here.
Toon have made four astute summer signings – with Fraser the latest to impress.
A convincing opening day win at West Ham was a tonic, and steady progress in a cup competition should have Bruce aiming to bring the club’s 51-year major trophy drought to an end. Newcastle had lost all three of the their League Cup ties sin since beating Cheltenham t Town back in 2016.
Amazingly, it was their worst run of form in the competition since th the 1980s.
T The Geordies have flopped to Leicester and Nottingham Forest twice at this stage in past years.
But after Blackburn made it an uncomfortable second-half battle, they now face League Two Morecambe in the third round next week.
Even owner Mike Ashley has cunningly improved his own standing among the fans by launching legal action against the Premier League to force through a £340million takeover by the Saudi state. So for now at least it’s all good on Tyneside.
Fraser joined on a free from Bournemouth a week ago, signing a five-year contract, and showed straight away that he will add to the Toon’s attacking mix with a goal on 34 minutes.
The Scot had not played since lockdown but looked quick and finishing well from 18 yards when sent clear on goal.
The chance was created for him by y Miguel Almiron’s (above) brilliant reverse pass, which wrong-footed the entire Rovers defence.
Bruce made nine changes from the West Ham match but still named a decent starting XI, revealing that the cups are on his radar again after years when they were officially not a priority.
Almiron was impressive from the start, showing his searing pace on the break, and could even have scored but fired an effort over the bar before half time.
But the club’s £40m record signing Joelinton looked increasingly frustrated, failing to hold the ball up well enough. To be fair to him the 24-yearsharp, old Brazilian was starved of decent service.
Even so, it was Tony Mowbray’s men who set the tempo for much of the game, despite the result.
In fact Rovers had the first big chance of the match, Ryan Nyambe crossing for Lewis Holtby, who fired wide when he should have scored.
United’s debutant keeper Mark Gillespie made a double save from Ben Brereton and Amari Bell on the hour, and Holtby had a great effort saved. Blackburn came again in the second half, with Bruce yelling, “Look after the ball” as his midfield was bossed.
NEWCASTLE: Gillespie 7, Yedlin 6, Krafth 6, Clark 7, Manquillo 6, Ritchie 6 (Atsu 79, 6) Longstaff 6, Barlaser 6, Fraser 7 (Murphy 58, 6), Almiron 7, Joelinton 5 (SaintMaximin 72, 6)
BLACKBURN: Kaminski 6, Nyambe 6, Lenihan 6, Travis 7, Williams 6, RankinCostello 6 (Armstrong 60,6), Dolan 7 (Chapman 72), Holtby 7 (Buckley 71), Bell 6, Rothwell 6, Brereton 6