It ended Newcastle 3 Bournemouth 3 after extra-time but then United winning 7-6 on penalties.
Ahead of each game we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the match.
An interesting game at St James’ Park…
Plenty to talk about after this one.
On this occasion it is The Armchair Fan.
POSITIVES
Result
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Ultimately, football is a results business.
The objective was to win the match and get to the next round and, in the end, we achieved that.
That’s four wins in a row in all competitions and we can take that momentum into a crucial run of fixtures.
Return of the entertainers
Wow!
The match against Leeds on Wednesday night was full of drama with a late, late winner, but this one was even crazier.
A dominant display before going 1-0 up seemed to put the Toon in the driving seat and when we hit the bar, it looked a matter of time before we’d secure our place in the next round.
Unbelievably, just seven minutes later we were 1-2 down and staring at an early exit.
With the clock ticking towards the end of injury time, Tonali won a penalty that Gordon buried at the Gallowgate End.
Extra time saw Harvey Barnes score a header with just two minutes left and Bournemouth score an even later equaliser to ensure a penalty shootout. At this point the match looked like it would never end with two misses apiece meaning sudden death was required to separate the two sides.
United eventually winning 7-6. Coupled with the late drama and many goals of Wednesday night, are the entertainers back?
Penalty shootout record
Growing up in the nineties supporting both NUFC and England meant I’d learned to dread the agony of penalty shootouts and the inevitable defeat they’d bring.
Thankfully, both teams are now improving on previous dreadful records, with the Toon having enjoyed spot-kick success against Newport, Crystal Palace, Blackburn, Nottingham Forest and now Bournemouth in recent years.
POSITIVES
Extra time
The one thing we didn’t want with so many games to play, was an extra thirty minutes.
Thankfully, third round replays were scrapped some time ago, but this was still additional playing time for a team that may well be exhausted.
Another fixture
Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted that we won, but perhaps one or two fans could be forgiven for thinking that a weekend off in the middle of February would have done us the power of good after such a hectic schedule.
Instead we have yet another fixture and don’t yet know the opposition, or whether or not we’ll be at home.
All will be revealed on Monday night.
Injuries
After a number of defensive injuries, the sight of Tino Livramento limping off having held his hamstring was the last thing we wanted to see.
Things almost got even worse when Thiaw went down with a possible head injury. Thankfully he was able to stay on but the price of recent success is all these matches taking their toll on the squad and stretching it to breaking point.
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