Newcastle 1-0 Bournemouth: Own goal sends rusty Toon into the quarter-finals
Newcastle United confirmed their place in the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup after an Adam Smith own goal sealed a 1-0 victory over a lacklustre Bournemouth side.
Despite a dominant performance in both possession and shots on goal - 63% of the ball and 17 efforts compared to the visitors six - the team looked rusty when entering the final third, seeing Almiron and Wilson squander a few promising openings.
We survived a few late scares in the closing stages as the visitors pushed for a late equaliser, but the game could and should have been over by that point. A Joe Willock 'offside' denied us a first half opener from Callum Wilson, with Bruno Guimaraes unfortunate not to force a late penalty after his goal-bound strike struck an outstretched Bournemouth hand. Had VAR been in play, the scoreline could've been more convincing, but this was a night where only the result mattered.
Eddie Howe named a strong starting 11 in what would be our first competitive game following the conclusion on the World Cup with all five players who travelled for the tournament selected in the lineup.
Starting XI: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Willock, Bruno, Almiron, Joelinton, Wilson.
Subs: Darlow, Lascelles, Targett, Manquillo, Shelvey, Ritchie, Saint-Maximin, Murphy, Wood.
Newcastle looked strong and in control of the ball in the opening 10 minutes but failed to really challenge the goalkeeper despite dominating possession.
The Magpies first shot of the evening came after 12 minutes when Kieran Trippier had a set-piece just outside of the box, but his resulting free-kick was hit wide of the target and we were still yet to test Mark Travers.
Similar to our 1-1 draw with the Cherries earlier in the season, Newcastle had the majority of the ball while Bournemouth sat extremely deep and once again we were struggling to break down their defence.
Fabian Schar saw one of his trademark long-range efforts go narrowly wide 20 minutes into the game, with Newcastle trying but failing to find a way to test Travers.
Callum Wilson thought he had opened the scoring after 26 minutes - as did 51,000 inside the stadium - but the linesman and referee finally came to the controversial decision that Joe Willock, who was deemed offside, had interfered with play. Based on the highlights that followed, it was a dubious call to say the least.
We finally recorded our first official shot on target just seven minutes before the break when Bruno hit a curling effort from outside the box, but it was easily gathered and too tame to trouble Travers.
Man of the moment Miguel Almiron came close to breaking the deadlock following a driven cross into the box from Dan Burn, but the Paraguayan failed to get a solid touch on the ball and Bournemouth were able to clear their lines.
As we entered the break goalless, Newcastle had racked up 67% possession and 10 shots compared to Bournemouth’s one, but the lads had nothing to show for it as poor decision making or a lack of quality in and around the final third often let us down.
It was another slow start to the second-half with Newcastle again having the majority of the ball but struggling to unlock the door.
A difference-maker was sat on our bench and our first change of the evening came on 55 minutes as Joe Willock made way for Allan Saint-Maximin; who came on down the left, allowing Joelinton to dro back into midfield.
Newcastle finally took the leads midway through the second period as a Kieran Trippier cross from the right-hand side was turned in by a header from Bournemouth defender Adam Smith.
Bournemouth had started to open up after the opener and Phillip Billinb had carried the ball well up the pitch before 17 latched an effort on goal which Pope had to get down low to claim.
With 15 minutes to go, Chris Wood came on to replace Wilson, while Jacob Murphy took the place of Almiron, giving us fresh legs in attack against a Cherries side pushing for a route back into the tie.
A final substitution of the night saw Jonjo Shelvey come on for a tiring Bruno as Howe looked to protected his 1-0 lead and save some of the Brazilian’s energy for Leicester.
In the closing stages, a dangerous cross to the far post almost saw Bournemouth equalise, but Dominic Solanke was unable to turn his effort from close-range past Pope, who denied the striker and secured the victory.
Next up, a trip to Leicester City in the league and opportunity to boost our top four hopes and build momentum towards a potential European finish!
