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For the second time in four days, Newcastle’s release card came from the penalty spot. Jonjo Shelvey’s sweet draw with three minutes remaining allowed Newcastle to prevail on a penalty shootout against League Two’s Newport County, who opened the scoring through Tristan Abrahams. Newcastle snatched a point from Tottenham on Sunday but in a less healthy environment made them sweat before reaching the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, winning 5-4 on penalties, despite Joelinton missing from 12 yards. .
Brandon Cooper skipped the decisive pitch, but was cruel to the Newport defender, on loan from Swansea, who was outstanding throughout. His last block on Ryan Fraser when the winger went to take a shot on goal as Newcastle pushed for a draw perhaps best embodied a brilliant performance with his back to the wall. Mickey Demetriou cleared the line with just six-minute seconds of second-half injury time and Nick Townsend, the Newport goalkeeper, was inspired by three times to keep Jacob Murphy at bay. But when Shelvey duped substitute Ryan Taylor on the edge of the box, he threw a delicious looping punch into the far corner to give Newcastle a lifeline. “Shelvey is the only player on the floor who can put him in the top corner from that position,” said Michael Flynn, the Newport manager.
From there, in addition to Townsend diving low to his right to meet Joelinton’s penalty, it was a near-perfect set of penalties on a test night for Newcastle and Steve Bruce acknowledged that his team must do better. “We had 27 attempts on goal, 10 on goal, but when these opportunities are not taken, we understand that that is our Achilles heel,” said Bruce, whose team host Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday. “We will continue working to improve. I promised everyone that I would try the cups because I know what it means to people. We reached a second quarter-final [in six months]. “
This had the makings of a surprise early on and Abrahams set the tone after his punch twisted through Mark Gillespie’s gloves in five minutes. Torrential rain saturated what is a tricky field at best and the terrain, which is also home to two rugby teams, has become infamous for its bubbles and quirks as well as killings of giants in recent years. years, because this is where Leicester came to be. it took off in the FA Cup last year and in Leeds 12 months earlier. Bruce cited this as a dangerous journey, acknowledging that his team would be in for a surprise if there was any trace of complacency. Swansea and Watford had already learned it the hard way this season.
Fabian Schär nearly tied on his first touch before Cooper expertly blocked just as Fraser was looking to level after being released by Joelinton. But, just when Newport thought they had another scalp, Shelvey’s magic led a messy game to a shootout. He celebrated by putting his index finger to his mouth as if to silence those who felt a shock. When Newcastle finally got a taste of victory, it had to deal with cold showers from Newport. “That’s not exactly what they’re used to,” Bruce said, smiling.
