In a Premier League context only Aston Villa have scored fewer times than Newcastle this season but the Carabao Cup is a different beast and it offered the holders a distinctly therapeutic evening. It was not quite raining goals for Eddie Howe’s side but two apiece from Joelinton and Will Osula at least showed they remembered how to score, on a night when Bruno Guimarães excelled in midfield.
Granted, Graham Alexander’s Bradford belong to the third tier but the League One leaders proved competitive and well-organised opponents who thoroughly deserved their own consolation goal, registered, evocatively, by their Newcastle-supporting No 9, Andy Cook.
“We wanted to entertain,” said Howe, whose team will face Tottenham at home in the fourth round. “But it wasn’t easy, we needed to be patient. Now we just want to keep going in this competition again.”
It is sometimes easy to forget that Joelinton originally joined Newcastle as a £40m centre-forward. Howe eventually discovered the Brazilian to be an infinitely better midfielder but when the rebound from Anthony Gordon’s blocked shot fell his way here, Joelinton’s muscle memory kicked in and the resultant low shot settled his side’s early nerves.
Until then Bradford had frequently succeeded in disrupting Newcastle’s one and two touch passing rhythm, with Aaron Ramsdale doing well to save Bobby Pointon’s deflected shot.
Once in front, though, Howe’s team seized control. With the £70m Germany striker Nick Woltemade starting on the bench again, Osula had another chance to prove his worth.
This time, he took it. Two minutes after Joelinton’s opener, Osula collected a gorgeous pass from Guimarães, retained his poise and, left one-on-one with Sam Walker, swept a fine shot beyond the goalkeeper’s reach.
As a senior player coming to the end of his career at Burnley a decade and a half ago, Alexander had clashed with a young manager named Eddie Howe. These days fences have long since been mended but Alexander, who, at 53, is six years his Newcastle counterpart’s senior, readily admits that, back at Turf Moor, they could not stand each other.
Now Howe, who acknowledges he should probably have played Alexander more frequently, had the upper hand again.
With Guimarães glittering and Lewis Miley gradually asserting himself in midfield, Newcastle were passing and moving with pleasing fluency. Only a strong save on Walker’s part denied Osuala a second goal yet the stadium was unusually quiet; more a library than the citadel of sound that greeted Barcelona here last Thursday.
Arsenal v Brighton & Hove Albion
Grimsby Town v Brentford
Swansea City v Manchester City
Newcastle United v Tottenham
Wrexham v Cardiff
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
Wolves v Chelsea
Wycombe Wanderers v Fulham
Matches to be played w/c 27 October
“Where’s your famous atmosphere,” chorused the 4,900 Bradford fans who had made the 100-mile road trip from West Yorkshire. Alexander’s players responded by refusing to fold but their best attacking moves tended to founder in the face of the immensely impressive Sven Botman, finally fit again, and his new partner Malick Thiaw.
No matter; for a team promoted from League Two only this spring, Bradford are evidently on a steep upward trajectory and never looked overawed by their multimillion-pound hosts. They might even have pulled a goal back had Stephen Humphrys not directed a header straight at Ramsdale after meeting Pointon’s clever delivery.
On the hour, Alexander made Cook’s evening by liberating the No 9 from the bench. Cook grew up idolising Alan Shearer and, in playing at St James’ Park for the first time, he finally fulfilled a longstanding dream. Before the 34-year-old could make his mark, though, Joelinton scored his second goal of the night, showing Gordon and Anthony Elanga how to finish.
That pair had missed opportunities to increase the scoreline but now Joelinton’s steadying touch and assured left-foot finish following another smart Guimarães pass ruined Bradford’s night.
Or had it? Undeterred, Cook, recently recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament rupture, responded by scoring the best goal of the night. When Newcastle failed to clear, he was perfectly placed to smash a stupendous half-volley in off the crossbar.
As Bradford’s entire bench applauded, sustained chants of “Andy, Andy Cook” echoed down from the Leazes End. “It’s something Andy will always remember,” said Alexander. “But Newcastle are very strong, they showed they’re a Champions League team.”
But there was still time for Osula to lash home his second goal as Newcastle sealed that fourth-round tie with Spurs and Bradford banked a very welcome sum of around £350,000 from their excursion to Tyneside.
