Newport County push Newcastle United all the way and only shootout agony ends their Carabao resistance
When Brandon Cooper skied Newport’s sixth penalty of the shoot-out, a miss which enabled Newcastle United to progress to the Carabao Cup quarter-final, the empty stands of Rodney Parade seemed to sag under the collective disappointment. How close Michael Flynn’s smart, progressive, enormously brave side came to delivering an upset; for 87 minutes they had matched their Premier League visitors. This was the kind of performance that deserved so much more; sometimes justice is not properly served from 12 yards.
Two seasons ago Flynn’s team beat Leicester City in the FA Cup on a south Wales pitch churned up by their rugby-playing fellow tenants. But there was no such advantage this time. After a summer of little use, it was now a bowling green, the sort of surface a Premier League visitor should have relished. Instead, it was Newport who looked to use it accordingly. Matty Dolan, the midfielder in the middle of a back three, sprayed around quarterback passes. The wing-backs tore forward. And in the middle, Scott Twine and Josh Sheehan relished the space the Newcastle midfield afforded them. Indeed within the first five minutes, Twine suddenly found himself gifted time to shoot. His fizzing effort smacked against the bar. The ball bounced out to Tristan Abrahams. As Newcastle’s defence stood bemused, the forward shot goalwards. His strike did not look strong enough, but the ball deceived Mark Gillespie, who scooped it into the net.
Newcastle tried to recover. Jacob Murphy in particular was everywhere, shooting constantly from distance, making Nick Townsend three times execute fine saves. Tiring of giving the keeper shooting practice, Murphy then picked up a flick from Andy Carroll, charged forward, right into the middle of the Newport box looking to pass the ball home. But Cooper, ever alert, slid in heroically to dispossess him. Murphy must have thought his luck was fully consumed when Mickey Demetriou then somehow blocked his perfectly struck volley from Ryan Fraser’s cross.
Murphy’s misfortune was not untypical of Newcastle’s wayward huff and puff. Crosses went too long, Jonjo Shevey mishit in front of goal, Carroll was static and largely peripheral. And Newport were always a threat. A lovely move that saw the ball switched by Ryan Haynes across to his fellow wing-back Liam Shephard, who cushioned a pass back to Scot Bennett. He shot hard and low. But wide.
After what appeared to have been a verbal rocket from Steve Bruce, Newcastle poured forward after half-time. But Newport’s defence held firm, Townsend blocked Fraser’s shot from the edge of the area, then saved again as Miguel Almiron followed up. But with the lethargic Carroll removed and Joelinton and Callum Wilson coming on, Newcastle became energised. Passes were quicker, movement sharper. As Newcastle’s urgency simmered, as Jamal Lewis and Fraser poured down the left, as Murphy kept on shooting (and missing) Newport were not cowed. They defended their lead with a total refusal to be overwhelmed. Townsend saved from Joelinton and when Wilson sent Fraser away, a magnificent tackle by Cooper to dispossess him just as he shaped to shoot was emblematic of the effort.
But, with time disappearing, Shelvey finally restored the natural order, jinking and feinting on the edge of the area, sending Cooper to the turf, before curling a brilliant shot into the corner. It was a goal that earned Newcastle the get-out-of-jail card of a shoot-out. They took full advantage, when poor Cooper, Newport’s back-line titan, became the fall guy.
“Hats off to them, they defended with their lives,” Bruce said. “But look, we’re through.”
His relief was palpable. And the Newcastle manager knows, whoever they face in the next round, it is unlikely Newcastle will encounter spirit like this again.
