Newcastle end 14-year wait as Bruce plots Wembley return
Steve Bruce may have been down Wembley Way before, but for the 5,000 long-suffering supporters who saw their team edge one step closer to an FA Cup final last night, the chance even to dream about that prospect is a rare thing.
Miguel Almiron scored two impressive first-half goals and Valentino Lazaro claimed his first for the club as the six-time FA Cup winners reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years.
The relative success to date has been hard-earned, requiring replays against Rochdale and Oxford United, but for a club without a successful FA Cup campaign since 1955, not even an edgy finale and two late goals by Championship side West Bromwich Albion could dampen spirits.
“I experienced the Cup final at
Hull and if you asked their supporters whether it was being in the Premier League or the Cup, all of them to a man or woman would say the day out at Wembley is the one thing they enjoyed,” Bruce said.
“How often does a club like that get to Wembley? We’re a step closer, so let’s see who we pull out. There are some big teams left in it.
“We’ve used the squad tonight and that can be a tonic for you. Last time Almiron scored in the Cup, he scored in the league, so it can be good for confidence.
“It’s a great competition and, when you get this far, you all try to get to where you want to get to.”
Unlike most of his predecessors under owner Mike Ashley, Bruce has treated the FA Cup seriously and his side reflected that in a strong first half.
Almiron’s first, after 33 minutes, owed much to the creativity of Allan Saint-maximin as the Frenchman burst out of his own half and timed his through-ball to perfection, sending the Paraguayan clear and buying him the necessary time to compose himself and lift the ball over the advancing Jonathan Bond.
It was no more than Newcastle deserved, Saint-maximin in particular, after he had struck the West Brom woodwork a couple of minutes earlier with a magnificent strike from 30 yards.
Better was to come, on the stroke of the interval, when Javier Manquillo and Valentino Lazaro linked well on the right. Joelinton benefited from a deflection before backheeling the ball into the path of Almiron, who drove it in clinically.
When Albion keeper Bond could only parry a Saint-maximin cross against Lazaro and into the net,