Newcastle fan KO’s Sunderland! – Watch goal & Alan Shearer celebration in FA Cup upset

The loss to Man City now allows us to shift our focus entirely to the Premier League and Champions League, starting with the small matter of hosting Barcelona at St James’ Park on Tuesday.

But, just as we were reflecting on our last 16 exit at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s title-chaser, it was amusing to see a boyhood Newcastle fan score the winner to knock out Sunderland on Sunday!

In their fifth round fixture, League One side Port Vale sent Sunderland out the FA Cup with a 1-0 win at Vale Park.

And the goalscorer, boyhood Newcastle fan Ben Waite, certainly made his feelings known about the Mackems with his celebration.

After his looping header beat goalkeeper Melker Ellborg to stun Reigs Le Bris’ side, Waite produced the iconic Alan Shearer celebration in front of the jubilant home fans, whilst the away end could only watch.

And the hosts, who are rock bottom of the third division, managed to hold on to secure one of the biggest upsets of this year’s FA Cup. It’s the furthest they’ve gone in the competition since 1954.

As things stand, our game against Sunderland later this month will be a six pointer in the tight race for European football.

Assuming we both win our next league game, as we travel down to Stamford Bridge and they go to the Amex to play Brighton, then we will each head into the derby on 42 and 43 points respectively.

And with 7th place currently occupied by Brentford on 44 points (though they could be on 50 should they win both their games against Wolves and Leeds), whoever loses between us and Sunderland could all-but-officially rule themselves out of European football contention.

With uncertainty surrounding the availability of Brian Brobbey, Nordi Mukiele and Robin Roefs for the game on the 22nd, whilst we can expect Tino Livramento back in the starting XI and Lewis Miley back in the squad, we should definitely be looking at the game with a strong degree of optimism.