Wilbraham defies age to earn replay for Rochdale
The 1998 World Cup was still to be played when Aaron Wilbraham scored his first goal in professional football. His latest came in the 2020s against Premier League opposition to extend Newcastle’s wretched FA Cup record.
The north-east side have won only six ties in the competition during Mike Ashley’s 13-year reign. When a seventh victory beckoned, Rochdale manager Brian Barry-Murphy proved there was no substitute for experience by summoning a 40-year-old replacement.
“He is an amazing guy,” Barry-Murphy said. “Aaron’s mum passed away recently, so he has been playing with that memory for a couple of weeks. He had an amazing impact.”
Wilbraham’s career is so long that Steve Bruce, Newcastle’s 59-year-old manager, said: “I think I might have played against him.”
A man in his fifth decade belied the ageing process to equalise, earn Rochdale a money-spinning replay and completing a trio of famous draws for the League One club, who held Tottenham two years ago and Manchester United in the Carabao Cup in September.
Rochdale bridged a gap of 49 places with the aid of a “fortysomething” and a 17-year-old. Luke Matheson was only 16 when he scored at Old Trafford earlier this season, and was not even born when Wilbraham opened his Stockport account at Maine Road in April 1998. But each made a huge difference after coming on; the youngest and oldest players on the pitch combined wonderfully when Matheson crossed for Wilbraham to level the scores in the 79th minute.
Newcastle could rue the misses of Joelinton, a rather more expensive forward than Wilbraham. The £40 million man’s salary could pay Rochdale’s annual wage bill, but he failed to take four chances and Newcastle did not build on Miguel Almiron’s early goal. Rochdale were superb in the second half. “We looked a bit shell-shocked in the first,” Barry-Murphy admitted.
With Bruce missing nine players, Emil Krafth and Isaac Hayden were emergency centre-backs who prospered until Wilbraham came on. Winger Christian Atsu flourished as a wing-back at the start, and Tyler Magloire and Kwadwo Baah – the two rookies on Rochdale’s right – were replaced after failing to halt Atsu.
Predictably, Atsu was the provider when Almiron struck, lashing in a shot after the Ghanaian’s burst to the byeline. Having waited 27 games for his first Newcastle goal, the second came four matches later. But while one of Newcastle’s big-money buys doubled his tally for the club, the other could not. Joelinton’s drought is up to 18 games after he skewed an effort over, shot wide and was twice denied by
Robert Sanchez in the Rochdale goal. “The frailties are obvious, that we don’t score enough,” Bruce said. “The chances we created should be taken and the cup tie should be put to bed.”
Sanchez made other crucial saves from Yoshinori Muto and Almiron, but both forwards went off to add to Newcastle’s injury problems and Rochdale made them pay for their profligacy. Barry-Murphy was the architect of a comeback, with Matheson bringing the dynamism. “I keep going to him as a get-out-of-trouble player,” the teenager’s manager said.
All three substitutes were involved in the goal, while a half-time reshuffle moved Callum Camps back into midfield and Ollie Rathbone to the left. Rathbone led the Rochdale charge. The former Manchester United trainee’s first effort was deflected over the bar, his second drew a fine save from Martin Dubravka and his third was parried by the keeper. Captain Ian Henderson reached the rebound and, from an acute angle, hit the outside of a post.
When Rathbone ventured into the box, he nearly scored, meeting Matheson’s low cross with a shot that Dubravka blocked well. After Wilbraham scored, he almost added a winner, angling a shot wide of the far post.
“The second half was a big disappointment,” Bruce said, but he took one positive: “We’re still in the hat.”