Newcastle 0-0 Crystal Palace (3-2 on pens): Pope heroics send Toon through
Nick Pope was the unlikely hero at St James' Park tonight, making three saves in a penalty shootout to send Newcastle into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup at Crystal Palace's expense.
It was a disjointed display on the night that kasyno online blik sites couldn't predict, with us struggling to create chances, press high or play out from the back, but another welcomed result as Eddie Howe's Mags march on to the last 16.
After eight changes saw the likes of Anderson, Manquillo, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin and Lascelles all start, a flat first half display pushed Howe to bring on five of his regular 11, seeing Bruno, Botman, Trippier, Almiron and Willock all feature in the second 45.
It was a nervous start from Newcastle who suffered a few sloppy moments in possession, but the Eagles were unable to capitalise and struggled to create any clear-cut chances themselves.
Approaching the 15-minute mark, the Magpies started to see a bit more of the ball, yet still failed to create anything of note as Palace looked comfortable in a game sorely lacking in quality or spark.
We had to wait until the 21st minute to see the first chance of the game - Jean-Philppe Mateta found himself in space down the left-hand side, but his strike was saved well by Pope who was able to put it out for a corner.
Newcastle’s first chance came at the half-hour mark when Sean Longstaff fizzed a ball into Elliott Anderson, who took a great first touch before turning his defender and registering the first shot on target for the Mags. It was more like it, but a weak effort that was easily collected by Sam Johnstone.
We started the second-half with back-to-back chances created by Allan Saint-Maximin, who looked the most likely to create something from nothing despite being well below his dazzling best. First, the Frenchman played a beautiful ball to Anderson, who saw his back post header deflect away for a corner. Moments later, ASM's delivery found an unmarked Dan Burn, only for his downward header to go straight at Johnstone from six yards out.
Eddie Howe then made perhaps the most impressive triple change we've had the luxury of making in recent times, as Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman and Bruno Guimaraes replaces Javier Manquillo, Dan Burn and Sean Longstaff to inject some fresh legs and quality into the team. Miguel Almiron then replaced Elliot Anderson soon after, spurning our biggest chance of the second half after latching onto Trippier's lovely through ball.
We were seeing more of the ball at this point, but never truly looked like scoring against an organised and physical Palace side who looked content with penalties at this point.
With what was to be the final kick of regular time, Bruno summed up the evening’s performance as his desperate effort from range was dragged well wide before the referee blew for full-time and sent us to penalties.
Chris Wood stepped up for the first penalty and made no mistake. Luka Milivojevic then followed for Palace, but his spot-kick was saved well by Nick Pope before Trippier made it 2-0 with an emphatic finish in front of the Leazes end.
Midfielder Will Hughes put Palace on the board before Joelinton restored our two-goal lead despite Johnstone getting a hand to his shot. Joel Ward sent Pope the wrong way to make it 3-2, then Sven Botman chipped a tame effort down the middle that was saved.
Pope handed Guimaraes the chance to win it after saving Mateta's effort, but the Brazilian blazed over after a stuttering run up. With his third and final save, Pope then denied Ebiowei’s effort to send Newcastle through and save Bruno's blushes!
Newcastle now turn their attentions to Chelsea on Saturday as Howe's high-flying Mags look to secure third-place heading into the World Cup break.
Starting XI: Pope, Manquillo, Lascelles, Burn, Targett, Shelvey, Longstaff, Joelinton, Anderson, Saint-Maximin, Wood
Subs: Karius, Trippier, Botman, Schar, Lewis, Murphy, Almiron, Willock, Guimaraes
