Newcastle’s Saint (Maximin) scrapes them through

Newcastle scrape through to the fifth round of the FA Cup, setting up a tie against West Bromwich Albion after narrowly beating a valiant Oxford United side in extra time.

The game started with much ambition that it would contain much more excitement and thrill than the game at St James Park- and it had exactly that. The Magpies, having started the match with only one recognised striker, started the game brilliantly, shutting out their opponents and opened the scoring through a tremendous effort from Sean Longstaff just outside Oxford’s box and rifling a shot just under the bar, almost impossible for stand-in keeper Simon Westwood to save. Surprisingly, Newcastle remained the dominate side after going one up, Joelinton scoring his third goal in English football; a calm composed finish assisted by a truly amazing Matty Longstaff through ball. The build up had caused controversy however, Miguel Almiron had supposed fouled Middlesbrough loanee, Marcus Browne, following a Oxford corner but the goal still counted much to the disgression of Oxford Manager Karl Robinson, whose reactions saw him yellow carded. Oxford replies however with multiple close chances; former QPR striker Jamie Mackie setting himself up to fire a volley straight down Karl Darlow’s throat which ultimately led to defender Sam Long’s left footed effort which this time beat Darlow but headed off the line by ever present Jamaal Lascells. Newcastle went through much of second half leading the game, looking very dominate despite Oxford having much more of the ball. The Magpies looked competent and very intimidating, especially with the pace and power Almiron and substitute Saint- Maximin, who came on for the injured Joelinton. It all changed for Oxford when they brought Liam Kelly on, the former Reading player bought Oxford to life with short, sharp, intricate dribbling and passing and his influence helped his side massively. This proved so, when Kelly scored a magnificent, placed free kick in the top right hand corner, beating Darlow who could have arguably done better. Newcastle didn’t look as threatening and similar to the Shrewsbury/ Liverpool match at Shrewsbury; The league one side looked better and deserved an equaliser which came from West Ham loanee Dan Holland. An exquisite side footed volley, which is for sure making West Ham fans wondering why they would ever let him go with the Hammers recent form. Newcastle looks beaten, despite the game going on, they felt robbed and rightly so, they looked comfortable and didn’t look like they were going to lose the game. The same couldn’t be said for the first half of extra time either, the hosts coming incredibly close to setting up a time with the Baggies in the fifth round through Mark Sykes whose abilities were truly on show, particularly in extra time. Newcastle’s only threat attacking wise, was Saint-Maximin who was truly the only player once Almiron was taken off who could punish Oxford. And he did exactly that. The clock ticking down, looking certain for a penalty shootout and just about when the Oxford players started to realise that if Newcastle were to win this game in extra time it’ll be through Saint-Maximin; The Frenchman scored a thunderous strike shattering Oxford fans hearts and securing his side a fifth round trip to West Brom- Definitely something I did not imagine myself saying at the start of this tournament.

My Man of the Match- For me it has to be Miguel Almiron– he played with such a fruitful edge and provided so much pace and excellence to his game- something we haven’t seen much off since his arrival from America.

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