Brighton 2-1 Newcastle
by Roger Domeneghetti
at St James’ Park

ARE you not entertained? The magic of the FA Cup lived on in this pulsating tie, settled deep in extra time by Danny Welbeck’s delightful chip.

If not exactly one for the ages, it was certainly one for the neutrals yet there was little hint of the drama to come in what was a relatively pedestrian first half.

Alexander Isak opened the scoring from the spot after 17 minutes. Toon old boy Yankuba Minteh giving away the penalty after a needless challenge on Tino Livramento.

Brighton dominated possession in the first half but lacked a cutting edge. Then almost from nowhere, Brighton were level with their first shot on target just before the break. Joao Pedro splitting the Newcastle defence and Minteh finding himself one-on-one with Martin Dubravka. As he shaped up to shoot across the keeper, Kieran Trippier slid in and deflected the ball past the keeper at the near post.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, the game exploded into life. Anthony Gordon lashed out at Jan Paul Van Hecke as the pair jostled for the ball and referee Anthony Taylor had no hesitation in showing a red.

The Brighton defender was subject to pantomime booing for the rest of the match, but Gordon can have no complaints. It was moment of gross stupidity; he’ll miss the League Cup final in a fortnight as a result.

Minutes later Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey also received his marching orders after receiving a second yellow, for a foul on Jacob Murphy. It was soft and certainly not a challenge worthy of seeing him dismissed.

Bruno Guimaraes took the resulting free kick and Fabian Schar volleyed home. It seemed that Newcastle had won it at the death, but their joy was short-lived, VAR disallowing the defender offside.

So, to extra-time. The teams looked like two punch-drunk boxers going for each other in the last round of a bout. The skill, craft and discipline of which they are both capable were all but absent. It was Welbeck, the two-time FA Cup winner, who delivered the knock-out blow.

With Newcastle’s defence out of shape. Solly March nudged the ball through to Welbeck who dinked the ball over the on-rushing Dubravka.

While Brighton can look forward to the FA Cup quarter-finals, for Newcastle this was the worst kind of preparation for the League Cup final in a fortnight.
Image captions

Credits: