Kasper Schmeichel’s penalty saves give Leicester win at Newcastle
Newcastle United may have been under strength but this was anything but a low-wattage performance from Steve Bruce’s second stringers. Quite apart from helping pacify Leicester’s highpowered attacking armoury along the road to penalties, Yoshinori Muto, Matty Longstaff and company probably convinced a few more Tyneside doubters to offer Rafael Benítez’s successor the benefit of considerable doubt.
Ultimately, though, the two penalties Kasper Schmeichel saved from Jonjo Shelvey and Isaac Hayden, prefaced Jamie Vardy – who else? – sealing the shootout and securing Brendan Rodgers’ side a third-round trip to Luton.
Leicester’s manager swerved the post-match media debrief but Bruce’s satisfaction with his side’s superb defensive display was tempered by anger at the wince-inducing tackle from Hamza Choudhury, shortly before half time, which left Matt Ritchie very much in the wars and the Leicester midfielder lucky to be merely booked.
“A horror challenge, over the top, awful,” said Newcastle’s manager. “Matt’s leg is in a mess. We fear ankle damage; there’s three different wounds, stitches in three different places. It’s a blatant red card but the referee’s five yards away and he’s missed it.” Sensibly, Rodgers withdrew Choudhury at the interval.
Newcastle’s manager had promised to “give it a go” in the cups but was adamant injuries dictated he had no option to make seven changes from the side which won at Tottenham on Sunday. In truth, Saturday’s Premier League game at home to Watford was always going to be the priority.
In contrast there were only two alterations to a Leicester starting XI in which Ayoze Pérez returned to St James’ Park following his £30m summer transfer and found his way to goal swiftly blocked by a fabulous interception on the excellent Fabian Schär’s part.
With Schär and Federico Fernández frustrating Vardy, Newcastle held their own until the England midfielder in waiting otherwise known as James Maddison wrong-footed Karl Darlow from a free-kick courtesy of a hefty deflection off Ritchie’s shoulder.
Early in the second half Muto tapped in the equaliser after Jetro Willems – athletically dynamic throughout – met Schär’s free-kick and burst into the area. When the Netherlands leftback appeared to be fouled the referee played advantage, allowing the ball to run into the Japan forward’s incisive path. The way was paved for penalties.
The night’s other shootout ended in anticlimax for League Two side Forest Green, who held Bournemouth to a goalless draw at the Vitality Stadium across 90 minutes but missed all of their spot kicks and lost 3-0.
Sunderland were the big winners from the lower leagues, travelling to Burnley and beating them 3-1. Jay Rodriguez had put Sean Dyche’s side ahead but the League One promotion hopefuls stuck back with three goals in 15 minutes either side of half-time, via Will Grigg, Tom Flanagan and George Dobson.
There was another surprise at Loftus Road where late goals from John Marquis – from the spot – and Marcus Harness gave Portsmouth a 2-0 victory at Championship club QPR.
A goal six minutes into stoppage time by the Kosovo striker Atdhe Nuhiu gave Sheffield Wednesday a dramatic 1-0 win at Rotherham. Meanwhile, Swansea’s flying start to the season continued with a 6-0 demolition of Cambridge. Kristoffer Peterson, George Byers, Jordan Garrick and a Sam Surridge pair put them five up at the break, Wayne Routledge adding one more 14 minutes from time.