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Blackburn Rovers 2 Newcastle United 4 (aet)
Rafael Benitez has made no secret of the FA Cup being an unwelcome distraction and that attitude will only have been entrenched as he counts the cost of Newcastle United’s passage into the fourth round and a meeting with Watford.
If Benitez had one wish from this replay, perhaps beyond even victory, it would probably have been to emerge with a clean bill of health ahead of Saturday’s critical relegation scrap with Cardiff City. The last thing he needed were injuries to key defenders but a dramatic extra-time win over a spirited Blackburn Rovers was tempered by a double blow with the loss of first Ciaran Clark and then, 12 minutes later, the man who replaced the Irishman at half-time, Jamaal Lascelles.
Having already seen Jonjo Shelvey succumb to a thigh injury in the first game against Blackburn that could yet keep the midfielder out of Cardiff, who are a point and a place above third-bottom Newcastle, progress in the competition has come at a price. Benitez expressed hope that Clark would be fit after taking a kick to the knee but Lascelles’s prospects look less promising after he pulled up with a hamstring problem.
But then try telling the Newcastle fans who are desperate for some silverware that this was all an inconvenience. To them, it will have felt anything but.
Blackburn had bravely fought back from being two goals down inside 22 minutes to draw level by half-time and had a glorious chance to go in front in extra-time only for Bradley Dack to steer his shot just wide of a post from Craig Conway’s knock down.
But goals from Joselu and Ayoze Perez either side of the extra-time interval were enough to sink the Championship side. Joselu was in an offside position when Fabian Schar shot but the Blackburn goalkeeper, David Raya, spilled the ball, allowing the Newcastle striker to tuck home the rebound. “It’s not an argument, it is offside, just say it is offside but the keeper should still have done better,” Tony Mowbray, the Blackburn manager, said.
Perez’s thumped finish after the substitute was released by Matt Ritchie ended any hope of a Blackburn fightback. In truth, it did not look like Newcastle would require extra-time when they raced into an early 2-0 lead.
Benitez made a total of 17 changes over the two games against Blackburn from the teams that lost to Manchester United and Chelsea to reinforce what a priority the Premier League is to him but two 21-year-old local boys, Sean Longstaff and Callum Roberts, seized the opportunity afforded them in spectacular fashion.
In Longstaff’s case, he needed just 56 seconds to claim his first goal for the club after his shot from a central position 25 yards out took a wicked deflection off Amari’i Bell. Roberts then joined his fellow Geordie midfielder on the score-sheet when he volleyed home Jacob Murphy’s cross. “They did well, it shows the academy is doing a good job,” Benitez said.
It looked a long road back for Blackburn at that point but their response was impressive, Adam Armstrong poking a clever finish through Freddie Woodman’s legs from Danny Graham’s pass before Darrragh Lenihan powered home a header from Lewis Travis’ cross. Blackburn’s hopes of an upset died with Dack’s miss, though.
“I think it’s important to win and score four goals and go through so I’m really pleased with that but we had some problems and may lose some players,” Benitez said. “Hopefully not but we will have to see over the next few days.”