Respite at last for Eddie Howe. It wasn’t the best game, it wasn’t the prettiest game, it wasn’t a derby that will take its place in the history of great derbies, beyond the fact it happened after more than seven years and with little immediate prospect of hostilities being resumed any time soon, but it was a win and one that was sorely needed.
The word from the club was always that Howe’s job was safe, but no manager could feel entirely secure after a run of eight defeats (one of them on penalties) in nine games when his side went out of three competitions, with their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League significantly diminished. While progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup is not enough to excite many any more, whether fans or directors, a bad defeat to a local rival may have begun to erode Howe’s standing with the fans – who have been generally supportive.
One win does not entirely dispel the disquiet and the run is still seven defeats (one of them on penalties) in nine games. An uneasiness may return after the league games against Manchester City and Aston Villa this month. But Newcastle won the one game that may have hurt Howe and in doing so ended a run of nine derbies without success and levelled the overall score in this fixture at 54 wins each.
For a long time, the atmosphere was rather better than the game. With a watery sun gleaming off damp pavements, a January chill to the air and a palpable sense of occasion, this felt like a throwback to the days when the FA Cup mattered, when third-round day was one of the biggest days in the calendar, rather than a weird day of abstinence after gorging on the Premier League over Christmas. The football itself came as something of an anti-climax.
Sunderland never looked like causing an upset. Any optimism home fans felt was rooted more in Newcastle’s recent failings than in any great confidence in their own side, who remain patchy under Michael Beale. Sunderland did not manage a shot in the first half and did not look like having one until they were already 2-0 down. There were a welter of bad touches, misplaced passes and an evident nervousness.
Nazariy Rusyn, who scored his first goal for the club against Preston on Monday, was isolated while the two notional wide players, Alex Pritchard and Jack Clarke, struggled to get on the ball. That has been one of Sunderland’s biggest problems this season: they are a team set up for dominating possession and when they cannot do that, they are very lacking in creative options – or even in ways to take goal-kicks; the attempts to play them short seemed only to invite pressure.
Newcastle were not great, but they did not need to be. For the first half-hour, only Sean Longstaff had attempts on goal, three of them, but then Sunderland’s two Northern Ireland internationals, Trai Hume and Daniel Ballard, combined to give Newcastle the lead, the former allowing Joelinton in behind him and the latter slicing the Brazilian’s cross into his own net.
At least after the gaffe over the refurbishment of the Black Cat bar with Newcastle slogans, it was not the worst own goal at the Stadium of Light this past week. As if that were not generous enough, Pierre Ekwah (from a free-kick for offside taken short) gifted Newcastle their second moments after half-time before Clarke sloppy concession of possession and Ballard’s clumsy challenge gave away the late penalty.
Which says what, exactly? Newcastle will not care how the win was achieved and nor should they. Without being anywhere near their best they were much the better side and never looked in any danger. From that point of view it was a job done extremely efficiently and they can argue, not without justification, that they forced the errors. It is not their fault Sunderland were so willing to make them or that they looked so obviously the side from the lower division.
This was a game in which Newcastle had very little to win and a lot to lose; what mattered was getting the job done, stopping the rot and getting out having sustained as little damage as possible. That Joelinton suffered a thigh injury in twisting awkwardly and was forced off just after half-time, though, comes as a blow and, in that context, it is surprising Howe did not make any other substitutions until the 90th minute.
He can now get on with trying to get Newcastle firing again as they were in early autumn and qualifying for the Europa League, or perhaps even the Champions League, and if something develops in the FA Cup, that is a bonus. The fixture that could have hurt him is done and a win in the derby can now be added to his list of achievements, which is more than his four predecessors can say.
