The FA Cup may be a band-aid for Newcastle during this season of cuts and bruises, and for much of this game it looked like it was being taken away from them. That would have left Eddie Howe injured and exposed.
As it is, a penalty shootout victory keeps a campaign of turbulence alive, and this match was very much in keeping with those ups and downs.
It looked set to end on a high when, in extra time, Anthony Gordon and Sean Longstaff went one-on-one with Aynsley Pears in the six-yard box, only for the Blackburn goalkeeper to save both in quick succession. Defender Scott Wharton then blocked Bruno Guimaraes’ shot on goal.
But that doesn’t tell the story of Blackburn’s superiority and Newcastle’s best player was goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. How fitting it was, then, that he saved Dom Hyam’s decisive penalty to send Newcastle into the quarter-finals of a competition they last won 69 years ago.
For Howe, there was great relief but also concern on a night when, without Dubravka, they would have been sent off without much cause for complaint.
Newcastle advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals after Martin Dubravka denied Blackburn captain Dominic Hyam on penalties.
Blackburn players were distraught when the Championship hosts were knocked out of the FA Cup on penalties.
Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka saved Blackburn captain Dominic Hyam’s attempt to win the penalty shoot-out.
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There was at least an immediate improvement in Saturday’s performance against Arsenal (a 4-1 defeat in which Howe said every aspect of their game was wrong), with Newcastle winning a corner inside nine minutes, something that was not They achieved 90 at the Emirates. . Still, nothing came of it. In fact, nothing the visitors did during the first half hour resulted in anything.
Blackburn weren’t much better and even a fan protest against the club’s ownership was boring. Arranged in the 14th minute to commemorate Venky’s 14th birthday, he would have done well to count even 14 tennis balls on the field. Given the number of abstainers, was Venky out or was Venky in?
Fans are frustrated by the lack of investment, but for a period before the break, it was Blackburn who looked like the team of the wealthy owners. They would have taken the lead in the 31st minute if not for the fingertips of Dubravka, who curled a Tyrhys Dolan shot around the post.
Local playmaker Sammie Szmodics was the most dangerous player in the match (no surprise considering he has 23 goals this season) and was denied twice by Dubravka before the break.
The second of those attempts, a rising shot in the 44th minute, appeared to score the first goal before Dubravka stepped up to tip the ball over the crossbar.
That ball landed among the 7,000 traveling fans, not that one would have imagined they were so numerous, so subdued had they become in the middle of a pedestrian display of their team.
All Newcastle offered in response in the first half was a Sean Longstaff shot blocked by Pears’ feet. The half-time whistle, at least for Howe, was a relief. A passage in which three of their players missed passes to each other almost captured their first 45 minutes. If the manager expected a response from Arsenal (he publicly criticized his players for the first time this week), he did not receive one.
New half, same story. John Buckley dictated the contest from midfield and once again Newcastle needed Dubravka to preserve parity when he intercepted the midfielder’s 20-yard shot.
But where was Newcastle’s midfield? He has been a problem all season against Premier League opposition, the intensity that was once his identity fading in the middle of the park. This, however, was second-tier opposition and yet they offered little control.
Anthony Gordon thought he had scored the winning goal in the 71st minute at Ewood Park.
Blackburn’s main striker, Sammie Szmodics, equalized and took the match to extra time.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was relieved as his team avoided a major upset in the FA Cup.
A set piece felt like their most likely route to goal and Jamaal Lascelles connected with a deep corner from Kieran Trippier only to see his header cleared off the line by Kyle McFadzean.
That near miss gave life to Newcastle and Longstaff soon released Gordon. It was the first attack of real conviction from him, but Gordon’s finish was not as convincing, pushing directly into Pears.
Still, it left the Magpies in the ascendancy and their 71st-minute breakthrough felt deserved, if only for the previous five minutes of late dominance. Substitute Miguel Almirón stepped back for Gordon at the penalty spot and, with less time to reflect on this shot, instinctively beat Pears.
But Blackburn’s spirit was not broken and the goal that forced extra time came in the 79th minute. Lascelles tried to head the ball to safety, missed and watched from the ground as Dubravka brushed Dilan Markanday’s shot off the crossbar before for Szmodics to follow to score.