The Times report not too bad either:
Last year Stevenage, this year Brighton. Newcastle’s FA Cup record under Alan Pardew shows little sign of improvement. That Newcastle should have put this tie to bed long before a deflected strike from childhood Newcastle fan Will Buckley drilled Brighton into the fifth round is scant consolation for a club who have failed to collect a major trophy since winning the Fairs Cup in 1969.
“They scored with their only shot,” lamented Pardew. “I can’t fault the players’ attitude and commitment but it’s galling to come here and lose. We leave scratching our heads and wondering how we haven’t won.”
Let nobody doubt that Newcastle took this game and competition seriously. Papiss Demba Cisse and Demba Ba are still at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal but only Fabricio Coloccini’s tender groin prevented Pardew from naming the same starting XI who crashed at Fulham last week.
After that performance, the Newcastle players took what Pardew described as “a breather” in Tenerife. The theory was that they would return refreshed to remove Brighton from the FA Cup for the first time since 1930. In practice, against the backdrop of a fervid atmosphere, Newcastle first stuttered, then enjoyed a period of hegemony and finally failed to respond to the winner.
They had their moments. They created the game’s first real chance when, in the 10th minute, Yohan Cabaye’s superlative through ball found Leon Best, who rolled his low shot wide. Then,in a flurry of incidents just after the restart, Peter Brezovan saved from Best with his feet, Danny Guthrie’s fierce goalbound follow-up was deflected to momentary safety and Cabaye blasted wide.
Brighton’s overriding goal remains to host Newcastle in next season’s Premier League. Yet, after clinging onto their league status in 1997, the subsequent years of peripatetic exile and occasional flirtations with extinction, the optimism that surrounds a reborn, upwardly mobile club with a shiny new ground glows brighter this morning. “Our best result here, but not our best performance,” said Brighton’s manager, Gus Poyet. “I’m not going to say we were the better team, but we were brave. They came at us from everywhere and you don’t get that in the Championship
Tough of tackle and imperious of distribution, Liam Bridcutt, squeezed out at Chelsea, held their midfield together with the air of a man destined for the Premier League. One glorious ball to Buckley found the winger skipping around Davide Santon’s typically tentative challenge and charging goalwards. Buckley lost possession but notice had been served.
Almost imperceptibly, Newcastle began to flex their muscles. Santon and Danny Simpson overlapped, offering desperately needed width. Gordon Greer sliced over his own bar after Simpson’s crafty cross had eluded the home defence but for all that their places are threatened by the returning Senegal players, neither Shola Ameobi nor Best will have caused Pardew much of a selection dilemma. “This was the right time to play Newcastle,“ said Poyet. “Ba is on fire right now. I like to see the best players when I watch television. But when it’s against me, I prefer them to be at home.”
Adam El-Abd claimed long, loudly and unsuccessfully that he had taken a Cabaye kick to the head while prostrate, but for all the hammer and tongs battling, neither defence yielded until a Newcastle attack broke down. The ball fell to Buckley in his own half. Half-hearted Newcastle challenges came and went until finally Buckley spun around Cabaye and, with the aid of a vicious deflection by Mike Williamson, who also scored an own goal at Stevenage last season, put Brighton through.
Newcastle made a triple substitution but their blunderbuss approach caused Brighton few problems, bar a penalty appeal when Lewis Dunk appeared to stop Cabaye’s drive with his hands. “We haven’t been given one of those all year,” sighed Pardew. Brighton might have sneaked a second but Ashley Barnes’ header was deflected over. One goal would do fine.
Brighton: Brezovan 7, Calderon 6, Greer 7, Dunk 7, El-Abd 6, Buckley 7, Bridcutt 7, Sparrow 6 (Navarro ht, 5), Forster-Caskey 6 (Harley 65min), Mackail-Smith 6, Barnes 6
Newcastle: Krul 6, Simpson 6, Williamson 5, Perch 5, Santon 5 (Ferguson 83min), Ben Arfa 7 (R Taylor 83min), Guthrie 6 (Gosling 83min), Cabaye 6, Gutierrez 6, Best 6, Ameobi 6
Last year Stevenage, this year Brighton. Newcastle’s FA Cup record under Alan Pardew shows little sign of improvement. That Newcastle should have put this tie to bed long before a deflected strike from childhood Newcastle fan Will Buckley drilled Brighton into the fifth round is scant consolation for a club who have failed to collect a major trophy since winning the Fairs Cup in 1969.
“They scored with their only shot,” lamented Pardew. “I can’t fault the players’ attitude and commitment but it’s galling to come here and lose. We leave scratching our heads and wondering how we haven’t won.”
Let nobody doubt that Newcastle took this game and competition seriously. Papiss Demba Cisse and Demba Ba are still at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal but only Fabricio Coloccini’s tender groin prevented Pardew from naming the same starting XI who crashed at Fulham last week.
After that performance, the Newcastle players took what Pardew described as “a breather” in Tenerife. The theory was that they would return refreshed to remove Brighton from the FA Cup for the first time since 1930. In practice, against the backdrop of a fervid atmosphere, Newcastle first stuttered, then enjoyed a period of hegemony and finally failed to respond to the winner.
They had their moments. They created the game’s first real chance when, in the 10th minute, Yohan Cabaye’s superlative through ball found Leon Best, who rolled his low shot wide. Then,in a flurry of incidents just after the restart, Peter Brezovan saved from Best with his feet, Danny Guthrie’s fierce goalbound follow-up was deflected to momentary safety and Cabaye blasted wide.
Brighton’s overriding goal remains to host Newcastle in next season’s Premier League. Yet, after clinging onto their league status in 1997, the subsequent years of peripatetic exile and occasional flirtations with extinction, the optimism that surrounds a reborn, upwardly mobile club with a shiny new ground glows brighter this morning. “Our best result here, but not our best performance,” said Brighton’s manager, Gus Poyet. “I’m not going to say we were the better team, but we were brave. They came at us from everywhere and you don’t get that in the Championship
Tough of tackle and imperious of distribution, Liam Bridcutt, squeezed out at Chelsea, held their midfield together with the air of a man destined for the Premier League. One glorious ball to Buckley found the winger skipping around Davide Santon’s typically tentative challenge and charging goalwards. Buckley lost possession but notice had been served.
Almost imperceptibly, Newcastle began to flex their muscles. Santon and Danny Simpson overlapped, offering desperately needed width. Gordon Greer sliced over his own bar after Simpson’s crafty cross had eluded the home defence but for all that their places are threatened by the returning Senegal players, neither Shola Ameobi nor Best will have caused Pardew much of a selection dilemma. “This was the right time to play Newcastle,“ said Poyet. “Ba is on fire right now. I like to see the best players when I watch television. But when it’s against me, I prefer them to be at home.”
Adam El-Abd claimed long, loudly and unsuccessfully that he had taken a Cabaye kick to the head while prostrate, but for all the hammer and tongs battling, neither defence yielded until a Newcastle attack broke down. The ball fell to Buckley in his own half. Half-hearted Newcastle challenges came and went until finally Buckley spun around Cabaye and, with the aid of a vicious deflection by Mike Williamson, who also scored an own goal at Stevenage last season, put Brighton through.
Newcastle made a triple substitution but their blunderbuss approach caused Brighton few problems, bar a penalty appeal when Lewis Dunk appeared to stop Cabaye’s drive with his hands. “We haven’t been given one of those all year,” sighed Pardew. Brighton might have sneaked a second but Ashley Barnes’ header was deflected over. One goal would do fine.
Brighton: Brezovan 7, Calderon 6, Greer 7, Dunk 7, El-Abd 6, Buckley 7, Bridcutt 7, Sparrow 6 (Navarro ht, 5), Forster-Caskey 6 (Harley 65min), Mackail-Smith 6, Barnes 6
Newcastle: Krul 6, Simpson 6, Williamson 5, Perch 5, Santon 5 (Ferguson 83min), Ben Arfa 7 (R Taylor 83min), Guthrie 6 (Gosling 83min), Cabaye 6, Gutierrez 6, Best 6, Ameobi 6
