Newcastle 1-2 Brighton: This is what the FA Cup is all about
There is nothing in football quite like a proper blood and thunder FA Cup tie. And Newcastle 1-2 Brighton was a proper blood and thunder FA Cup tie.
Two red cards. One penalty. Players struggling to walk by the end. And a 114th minute winner scored by a two-time winner of the competition who is now dreaming of firing the Albion to the first piece of major silverware in their 124-year history.
Could it happen? Yes, quite feasibly. With Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester United all out of the FA Cup, only Manchester City remain from the European Super League Elite Six. And City are not the scary opposition they once were.
The God of Cup Draws was clearly in a mischievous mood after Newcastle 2-1 Brighton when they paired the Albion at home with either Nottingham Forest or Ipswich Town in the quarter finals.
The same Nottingham Forest who beat Brighton 7-0 just four weeks ago. But this is exactly the sort of story the FA Cup also specialises in, alongside all that blood and thunder.
Fabian Hurzeler and his Seagulls gain their redemption for humiliation at the City Ground by eliminating the Tricky Trees and advancing to a Wembley semi final.
And you can probably see where the story then goes after that. Crystal Palace under the arch, either for a place in the final or in the final itself.
The prospect seems alluring one minute. Then you remember what happened the last time Brighton faced their arch rivals in a game of such importance – the Championship playoffs in 2013 – and it becomes frightening.
Of course, it could also be that Ipswich knock Forest out. Then we get the story of the Albion’s number one target to replace Roberto De Zerbi in the summer against the man who got the job when Kieran McKenna said no.
How can you not love the FA Cup when virtually every tie has so many subplots to it? And look how easy it is to get carried away because of the excitement it generates. Here we are, already thinking about how grim losing to Palace on Saturday 17th May will be.
But back to Newcastle 2-1 Brighton, where we have to start with Yankubu Minteh. Fresh from the bicycle kick in his own box 70 yards into the air and out for a corner incident against Bournemouth on Tuesday night, Minteh was again determined to entertain through the first half at St James’ Park.
It started when a clumsy tackle felled Tino Livramento just inside the Albion box on 22 minutes. There was no doubt it was a penalty.
I therefore have to admire the one Seagulls supporter on Twitter I saw arguing with all and sundry over the award. They must have a seriously good pair of blue and white tinted spectacles. Alexander Isak duly beat Bart Verbruggen from 12 yards and the Toon had the lead.
20 minutes later and Minteh atoned for his gift to Newcastle by scoring the equaliser against his former club. Joao Pedro played a fantastic pass which allowed Minteh to escape Fabian Schar and net past Martin Dubravka.
Minteh refused to celebrate which appeared to be taking this whole respecting ex-team woke nonsense to an entire new level.
The sum of Minteh’s Toon career being to sign in the summer of 2023. Be immediately loaned to Feyenoord. And then be sold when Newcastle needed to make a quick sale to meet PSR without ever making an appearance. Bizarre.
Newcastle had the better chances to win the tie in the second half. Joe Willock somehow missed a free header from six yards and Schar saw a volley ruled out for offside with seconds of normal time remaining thanks to VAR. Didn’t we always tell you that video assistant referees were good for the game?!
Both sides were down to 10 by the point Schar thought he had won it for the Toon. Anthony Gordon had a moment of madness you would never associate with his doppelganger Clare Balding, sending Jan Paul van Hecke to the ground with a push to the head as the pair tangled for a ball.
Gordon stood their laughing at Van Hecke. But laughter soon turned to despair when referee Anthony Taylor whipped out a straight red card. Gordon will now miss the League Cup final against Liverpool through suspension.
Brighton had a man advantage for all of eight minutes. Tariq Lamptey made a pretty needless tackle on Jacob Murphy to pick up his second yellow of the afternoon.
Eddie Howe and Hurzeler had both rattled through the majority of their substitutes rather early given the prospect of extra time had been very real throughout the second half.
That meant cramping, limps and players going to the floor were commonplace through the additional 30 minutes. Pedro was particularly impacted for Brighton, hobbling around whilst trying to make the most of the extra space afforded by the two red cards.
For Newcastle, it was Livramento badly struggling. The swashbuckling full back he had been through the first half was replaced by someone who looked like they had two wooden planks strapped to their legs as the minutes ticked by.
Helpfully for Brighton, it was their subs who had a bigger impact through extra time. Diego Gomez came on for the below-par Carlos Baleba midway into the second half and almost beat Dubravka nine minutes into extra time.
It needed a stunning stop from the Toon goalkeeper to deny Gomez his first Albion goal. Having run the show in the Bournemouth win, Gomez is already looking quite the signing.
Penalties appeared to be looming large. But then Welbeck struck with six minutes remaining before spot kicks to make it Newcastle 1-2 Brighton.
Dat Guy’s fellow substitute Solly March was the architect. The winger broke forward before showing all his experience, patiently waiting for the right moment to release Welbeck.
Once Welbeck was played in, he made no mistake with a beautiful finish dinked over Dubravka. Dat Guy now has two winning goals at St James’ Park to his name this season. A particular delight for a player who first burst onto the scene via a loan spell at Sunderland 14 seasons ago.
Welbeck went onto win the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2015 and 2017. Can he add a third medal to the collection with Brighton and make Seagulls history? It would be quite the story.
