Newcastle 3-1 Bromley: Magpies survive early scare as they come from behind to keep FA Cup dream alive against League Two minnows
- Newcastle suffered an early scare but recovered to secure an assured comeback victory
- Miley equalized for the Magpies before second-half goals from Gordon and Osula sent the hosts into the fourth round of the FA Cup
It is only the second time in Newcastle United’s history that there will be a domestic treble from January.
Even then, on the previous occasion in 1976, they bounced around the bottom half of the old First Division.
Today, Eddie Howe’s side have won eight in all competitions, sit fifth in the Premier League and have a two-goal lead over Arsenal ahead of the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. They also advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup for the second time in five years, but only just.
Howe wasn’t happy with what he saw during a first half that saw League Two Bromley take the lead and could have had a second before Lewis Miley struck a super equalizer from 25 yards. But there was nothing great about a performance that lacked energy and quality.
Nine substitutions gave a number of players on the fringes of the first team the opportunity to impress. At half-time Howe might have felt like scoring another nine.
Instead he made two – which together cost £85 million – and within four minutes one of them, Anthony Gordon, had scored the penalty that gave the hosts a lead they would not relinquish. The England winger had shown more urgency in those four minutes than several had in the previous 45 minutes. He replaced Harvey Barnes during the break.
Lewis Miley scored the crucial equalizer for Newcastle early on, after the home team fell behind
Anthony Gordon put Newcastle ahead just four minutes after the restart
William Osula gave Newcastle breathing space as his goal made it 3-1 at St James’ Park
Captain Bruno Guimaraes was the other half-time arrival and when William Osula made it 3-1 for half-time just after the hour, there was a row to get the Brazilian and Gordon taken off the field again. In just fifteen minutes on the pitch they had shown how they could control and influence a match.
Osula’s goal overshadowed Miley’s as the top pick, with the Norway Under-21 forward cutting into the infield from the right and lashing his left hand into the top corner for his first in black and white.
But also a word for Bromley’s opener. It came after eight minutes when Swansea loanee Cameron Congreve collected the ball 25 yards out and the 20-year-old bent around Martin Dubravka’s dive. Danny Imray ran through on goal shortly afterwards and shaved the post, a 2-0 lead would not have been undeserved.
Miley scored Newcastle’s equalizer after 16 minutes before second-half changes significantly changed the course of the match. It is to the credit of Andy Woodman’s Bromley that Howe felt the need to complete the match with five of his recent regulars on the field.
It may seem unremarkable that the Magpies are still in both cup competitions in February. But when the last and only time they achieved that was almost fifty years ago, it shows how barren the period they went through is.
No one is suffering on Tyneside at the moment and the bandwagon keeps going, even if they had to endure a bumpy first half here.