domingo, 5 de janeiro de 2020

Rochdale 1-1 Newcastle United: Late equaliser forces unwanted replay for Bruce

Newcastle are left to rue missed first-half chances as they have to settle for a replay against Rochdale.


A late Rochdale equaliser forces a dream replay at St James' Park which was more than what the home side deserved.

Story of the match

Newcastle United took the lead through Miguel Almiron after 18 minutes.
With 11 minutes left to play, Aaron Wilbraham equalised for Rochdale.
After a bright start, Matty Longstaff found space in the box after 12 minutes, but his curling effort was blocked behind for a corner.
The Magpies made their early dominance count as Christian Atsu beat his man before picking out Almiron who took one touch before smashing past Robert Sanchez.
Joelinton could have opened his FA Cup account as he glided past Jordan Williams before misfiring his shot wide of the post.
Yoshinori Muto should have doubled the visitors' lead just before half-time as DeAndre Yedlin got in-behindn the Rochdale defence before picking out Muto.
However, his effort from the sic-yard box was smashed straight at Sanchez who made an excellent block.
Joelinton saw his shot on the turn saved superbly by Sanchez from 10-yards out to keep the home side in the game at half-time.
Oliver Rathbone tried his luck from 25-yards after 58 minutes which forced Martin Dubravka into a diving save as the ball looked destined for the top corner.
With half an hour left to play Rathbone tried another long-range effort which saw Dubravka spill the shot into Ian Henderson's pass but the striker could only fire against the post from close range.
Newcastle's number nine saw a goal-bound header blocked by Eoghan O'Connell which was heading into the far corner after 65 minutes.
Luke Matheson should have levelled things up with 15 minutes left to play as he was one-on-one with Dubravka inside the six-yard box but the Slovakian saved magnificently with his leg.
After a swift counter-attack, Wilbraham saw a deflection fall to his feet a few yards out before smashing in at the near post.
The home side missed a glorious chance to win the game in the 90th minute as O'Connell won it off Atsu before picking out Rathbone who saw his effort go aimlessly wide.

Takeaways

Joelinton continues to struggles

The Brazilian had another 90 minutes to forget in a Newcastle shirt as he squandered more than one opportunity to score.
However, it is the simple things such as holding the ball up and bringing others into the game that is beginning to frustrate Newcastle fans.
Newcastle are not blessed with attacking options, which is why Steve Bruce has had no choice but to persist with his record signing.

An unwanted game

After an already relentless festive schedule which has saw nearly 10 players pick up injuries for the Magpies Bruce would not have wanted another added fixture.
However, he must now prepare his squad for a likely midweek replay against a dogged Rochdale side.
Bruce saw Muto go off injured to add to an ever-growing injury list for the Magpies.

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