Alan Shearer admits Sheffield Wednesday 'deserved' their victory as Newcastle United suffered a shock FA Cup defeat. The Magpies have bowed out at the third-round stage for the third season in a row following a 2-1 defeat at Hillsborough on Saturday night.
Eddie Howe made eight changes to the side which drew with league leaders Arsenal last time out, but a Josh Windass second-half brace put the Owls on course for victory. Substitute Bruno Guimaraes pulled one back minutes later, but the Magpies were unable to find an equaliser.
The visitors were guilty of spurning several opportunities, with Alexander Isak coming close twice in the first-half on his return from injury. Chris Wood blasted over when put through one-on-one in the closing stages, and it was this profligacy which meant Wednesday deserved the win according to Shearer.
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He told BBC Sport: "I will say the deserved to go through, I thought they were superb. I didn't think they player particularly well in the first half, but they were much better in the second.
"They created chances, Josh Windass scored two very clever goals and could have had a hat-trick when he hit the bar from a free-kick. Newcastle weren't good enough in the final third, missed far too many chances."
VAR was not in force for the third-round tie, and replays suggest Windass was offside for his first goal. Newcastle also benefitted at the other end when Guimaraes' looked to be offside for his strike, and Shearer pulled no punches when assessing the performances of the officials.
When asked whether Wednesday's first goal was offside, Shearer answered: "Well the assistant won't be able to tell, because he's five or six yards out of position. They work it really, really well and that's a clever finish.
"He just gets enough on the ball. You can see where the assistant is, he's miles away from where he should be. He's probably just offside, but it's a clever finish. But Newcastle's goal is offside as well, when Bruno scores he's two or three yards offside."
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