Jamie Jackson was on point at Spotland. Here’s his take on a fluctuating and very entertaining cup tie. Click, enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM.
Steve Bruce adds: “How good we were in the first half, in the second we were disappointing. We should have been out of sight, and therein lies our big problem. We don’t score often enough. And if you don’t take your chances, this can happen in the cup. The loss of Almiron and Muto took the edge off us, but in my opinion we should have been out of sight. We have to take our chances and improve in that area. But we’re still in the cup, we’ll still be in the hat. It’s the FA Cup, and we’ll take it seriously.”
Rochdale boss Brian Barry-Murphy talks to BT Sport! “It’s relief, really ... the first half was a tough watch for us and our supporters ... but we fully expressed ourselves in the second half, it was hugely satisfying. We were overrun in the first half, and the lads showed great courage to put that right. We relish the cup and we’re ecstatic for this to continue. It’s huge for the club and can only help us going forward.”
This won’t enter the pantheon of great upsets ... not yet, at least. While we wait for the match report to drop (and to see what the managers have to say) why not test your knowledge of shocks past?
Ollie Rathbone spurned two great chances, but he shouldn’t be too hard on himself. He was quite superb in the second half, the beating heart of Rochdale’s fine comeback. Man of the match, surely, though the official decision has gone to goalscoring hero Aaron Wilbraham. Here’s Rathbone, speaking to BT Sport: “The chance I had before the goal was a good save. The second one I rushed a bit. So it’s disappointing in that respect. But it’s a great opportunity to go to St James’. We’ve had a great trip to Old Trafford earlier this season, and we can be proud of our performance. It’ll be amazing. A huge incentive. We take the competition really seriously, so it’s all to play for in the second leg!”
FULL TIME: Rochdale 1-1 Newcastle United
Everyone back to St James’ Park, then. That was a cracking cup tie! Newcastle were utterly dominant in the first half; Rochdale really should have turned it round in the second. They carved out enough chances to win. But they’ll take a deserved draw. Spotland hail their heroes.
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90 min +2: Still, a lucrative trip up north for a replay isn’t to be sniffed at. It’s the least Rochdale deserve.
90 min +1: There will be three added minutes. Rochdale should be holding onto a lead; Rathbone has spurned two gilt-edged invitations to score.
90 min: The set piece is half cleared by Atsu. But the ball’s sent straight back at Newcastle. Atsu tries to chest down, and gets it all wrong, allowing O’Connell to race off down the right! He enters the box and rolls across for Rathbone on the Spotland spot. He has to hit the target, surely, but wafts a weak sidefoot wide left of goal. Newcastle were on the brink of ignominious defeat, right there.
89 min: Wilbraham and Henderson make nuisances of themselves out on the left. Fernandez comes sliding in on the latter, and this is a free kick in a very dangerous position.
88 min: O’Connell and Fernandez compete as the corner’s swung with great purpose towards the near post. Goal kick, though Rochdale wanted another corner. Then Newcastle fly up the other end, Ki fizzing a rising shot towards the top left from some way out on the right. It’s not too far away.
87 min: Rathbone, who has been Rochdale’s star man, bustles to win a corner down the left. Rochdale load the box. The six-yard box.
86 min: Matty Longstaff lashes a 25-yarder wide left of goal. Not sure Sanchez would have got to that, had it been on target. This is such an entertaining cup tie!
84 min: From the corner, Ritchie hooks in from the right. At the far post, Fernandez flashes a header across the face of goal. There’s nobody there to run it home for the Toon! Then Rochdale burst up the other end, Henderson nearly reaching a loose ball in the middle of the park. If he’d got that under control, he’d have been away down the middle, clear on goal. Anything could happen here!
83 min: Atsu has a whack from 25 yards. His shot takes a wild deflection and nearly loops over Sanchez. Just over the bar. A corner. Newcastle load the box, desperate to avoid a replay. Desperate not to get knocked out.
81 min: That was almost a carbon copy of the move that led to the chance Rathbone missed. One obvious difference, eh. Wilbraham scores on his 674th senior appearance. And credit to the manager Brian Barry-Murphy, because his three subs combined to create that equaliser. Rochdale deserve to be level.
GOAL! Rochdale 1-1 Newcastle United (Wilbraham 79)
McLaughlin slips a ball down the inside-right channel for Matheson, who reaches the byline and cuts back for Wilbraham. The 40-year-old takes a touch and calmly pokes into the bottom right, giving Dubravka no chance! This had been coming!
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78 min: Rochdale are asking Newcastle a few questions now. Wilbraham puts himself about under a long ball, forcing Hayden into a panicked clearance. Then Ryan probes down the left, but his cross is too close to Dubravka, who claims at the near post.
77 min: Newcastle re-establish a level of control by knocking it around the back for a bit. Then a ball’s pinged down the inside-right channel for Joelinton to chase, but Sanchez is wise to the danger and comes off his line to gather calmly.
75 min: Rochdale struggled to retain possession in the first half. They’ve been much better in the second. Now they’re stroking it around in the middle of the park, as Newcastle sit back, holding on to what they’ve got.
73 min: The resulting corner isn’t anything to write home about. What a run by Matheson that was, though. The 17-year-old is a player in the making.
72 min: Matheson, the hero of Old Trafford, holds off Atsu and bursts into the Newcastle box on the right. He cuts back for Rathbone, who takes a cute touch to tee himself up, six yards out. He must score ... but in attempting to slot into the bottom right, hits Dubravka’s leg. Corner. Rathbone slides across the turf, on his knees, head in hands. He knows that was a huge chance to equalise.
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71 min: Yedlin tears down the right, as he did so often in the first half, but with less frequency in this second period. He makes himself plenty of time and space, burning past Rathbone, but hoicks his cross into the stand behind.
69 min: Rochdale make their last swap, replacing Stephen Dooley with Ryan McLaughlin.
68 min: Ryan bustles to earn a corner out on the left. Camps meets the set piece, onlyt to shank his volley horribly. Newcastle should really have wrapped this up by now, but Rochdale are still very much in this match.
66 min: Krafth loops a cross in from the right. It nearly confuses Sanchez, who scrambles back and catches on the line. Just in the nick of time. That was going into the top left.
65 min: Ritchie is in the thick of it immediately, racing down the left and pulling back for Ki, whose measured first-time sidefoot towards the bottom left looks to have wrong-footed Sanchez ... but is blocked by a defender just in time.
64 min: The resulting corner comes to nothing, but the Newcastle fans are in fine voice anyway, as they welcome the return from injury of Matt Ritchie. He comes on for the goalscorer Miguel Almiron.
63 min: Now Newcastle hit the post! Joelinton meets Atsu’s left-wing cross, sending a header towards the top left. Sanchez gets a fingertip to it, and the ball grazes the outside of the goalframe.
62 min: So Newcastle, rather cleverly, slow the pace down by stroking it around the midfield. Great game management. As the volume decreases, Rathbone goes in rashly on Yedlin and becomes the first name in the referee’s pristine notebook.
61 min: Spotland is bouncing again. We have ourselves a cup tie.
59 min: Rochdale hit the post! Rathbone has another dig from distance, sending a dribbler towards the bottom left from the edge of the box. Dubravka makes a meal of saving, pushing the ball out to Henderson, who takes a shot from a very tight angle on the left. His effort caroms off the woodwork. So close! The crowd respond, knowing their team, having been put through the mill for the most part, are still in this!
58 min: The ball drops near Sean Longstaff, out on the right wing. The older Longstaff brother attempts to launch a dipping, Le Tissieresque volley into the top left. It sails wide left, but full marks for ambition.
56 min: And here’s some more proof, as Rathbone executes a lovely stepover as he makes his way down the inside-left channel, before pearling a rising shot towards the top left. Dubravka is forced to parry at full stretch, a fine save to match the quality of the strike.
55 min: Camps, Dooley and Rathbone combine cutely down the inside-left channel, pinging the ball around in pretty triangles with both foot and head. But Newcastle hold firm on the edge of their area, and the move goes no further. Welcome proof that Rochdale can play some football when they get themselves going.
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54 min: Muto can’t continue. He limps off, to be replaced by Ki Sung-yueng. The corner, when eventually taken, is a complete non-event.
52 min: Almiron wins another corner down the right. Before it cam be taken, Muto goes down. He appears to have a problem with his right hip.
50 min: The corner on the left leads to a corner on the right. Almiron whips another vicious ball in. It’s half cleared. Krafth is clumsily bundled over by Wilbraham, and the pair square up, but the manbag session is over quickly enough as the referee reminds both players that they’re grown men. No free kick for Newcastle, as the flag had already gone up for offside.
49 min: Almiron takes. He looks to whip one across Sanchez and into the top left, but the keeper sticks out a strong hand. Atsu picks up possession on the other flank and wins a corner off Matheson.
48 min: A free kick for Newcastle out on the right. Sean Longstaff launches it into the box; Williams clears it easily enough. But it’s still not sticking up front for Rochdale, and the ball’s soon coming back towards their area. Yedlin skates down the right and is upended by Rathbone. Another free kick coming up, in a very dangerous position just to the right of the Rochdale box.
47 min: Newcastle pick up where they left off, pretty much. Sean Longstaff slips a pass down the right for Yedlin, once more in acres of space. The cross isn’t all that good, and O’Connell, so often on point, clears again.
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It’s the second half! Rochdale get the party restarted. They’ve made a second change, replacing 16-year-old Kwadwo Baah with 40-year-old Aaron Wilbraham. A 24-year age gap! By the way, it’s still raining.
Some more half-time entertainment. “Any time I see the name Rochdale it delights my inner revolutionary,” begins our old pal Hubert O’Hearn. “You see, back in the 1960s the University of Toronto unveiled an 18-floor dormitory called Rochdale College. It rapidly and notoriously became known as the hippie heart of Canada. If you happen to notice any bong passing, guitar strumming, free-love loving in the stands today, it will be good to know the tradition lives on. Mind you, with the injury plight and Mike Ashley to deal with, it might be Steve Bruce in need of a night of pipe, song and sex.” Legal disclaimer: the Guardian accepts no responsibility for the workings, however harrowing, of your mind’s eye.
Half-time entertainment. This is magical. Hey, the FA Cup is magical. Enjoy, enjoy!
HALF TIME: Rochdale 0-1 Newcastle United
Just the one goal in it at the break ... though Rochdale have Sanchez to thank for that, as the keeper makes a fine double save just before the whistle. Joelinton swivels on the penalty spot and dribbles a shot towards the bottom right. Sanchez stops. Yedlin tries to slam the rebound in from a tight angle on the right, but the keeper’s all over that too. Rochdale will need to make some half-time changes, because Newcastle are getting lots of joy on both flanks, and a one-goal lead is the least the six-time winners deserve.
45 min: Yedlin shakes his hips and sits down Keohane. He shimmies into the box and dinks a cross towards Muto, but the delivery isn’t in the same class as the run. Rochdale clear.
43 min: This is a little better from Rochdale, as Rathbone embarks on a rococo ramble down the inside-left channel, Krafth and Fernandez both unwilling to tackle him as he enters the box. But Rathbone’s close control lets him down, just as it looks like he’s opened up a little channel to cross. A little promise to take into the second half, perhaps.
42 min: Camps tries to stir the crowd by shooting from 30 yards. The ball dribbles apologetically wide of the right-hand post. Dubravka wanders over to watch its serene progress.
41 min: Newcastle have done an excellent job of silencing the home crowd. The atmosphere was bubbling at kick-off, but it’s eerily calm now.
39 min: Yedlin bursts into the box from the right. He’s got the opportunity to shoot from a tight angle, but unselfishly opts to tee up Muto on the penalty spot instead. Muto smacks his shot straight at Sanchez when he really should score ... but then take nothing away from the keeper’s brave stop. Newcastle would have been worth a two-goal lead, but Rochdale are hanging on in there.
38 min: O’Connell looks for the Beckenbauer inside, and sashays up the middle of the park. It’s a fine run, spoilt only by the pass he then clumps into the stand out on the right, while attempting to release Ryan on the wing.
36 min: Newcastle continue to dominate possession. They’re in a patient mood right now, stroking it about, hither and yon, happy to wait for an opening to present itself. Eventually Atsu tries to reach the byline on the left for the 300th time this afternoon, but Matheson gets in the road and ushers the ball out for a goal kick.
34 min: A corner for Newcastle out on the right. Sanchez claims it, but knackers himself by clattering into the newly arrived Matheson as he leaps. After a brief period of medical attention, he’s good to go again.
32 min: Magloire has been run ragged in the right-back position, and he’s replaced by Luke Matheson, who you will remember as a 16-year-old scorer at Old Trafford back in September. Matheson went back to school the day after momentarily stunning Manchester United in the League Cup. He’s 17 now. All grown up.
30 min: Joelinton’s not hiding, to be fair, despite his dismal scoring record. Hayden knocks one in from the left; Newcastle’s number nine rises under severe pressure from O’Connell and Sanchez, winning a header but sending it over.
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29 min: Atsu is burning it up down the left, but Yedlin isn’t doing too badly out on the other flank. He drops a shoulder to win a corner. Almiron’s set piece nearly finds Hayden, but Rathbone does enough to relieve the pressure.
27 min: Newcastle continue to ping it around in a progressive style. It’s an open and entertaining match, though the visitors are experiencing the lion’s share of the fun. Very much so. They’ve hogged 74% of possession so far.
25 min: Long-distance efforts at either end. First Rathbone has a pop from distance; it flies harmlessly high and wide. Then Matty Longstaff has another dig, but this one deflects off his own man and out for a goal kick.
23 min: 2019 wasn’t Joelinton’s year. Will 2020 be better? On the evidence so far, possibly ... possibly not. He embarks on a glorious swerving run down the middle of the park, sending Williams off to the shops for the paper and 20 Bensons. He’s just got Sanchez to beat! So far, so good. Then he opens his body to sidefoot into the bottom left ... and rolls the ball dismally wide, bothering only a nearby ballboy. Shame, because that was a fine run.
22 min: More space for Atsu, who has the run of Spotland this lunchtime. He lifts a cross into the middle, hoping to find Joelinton, but Sanchez claims. Rochdale are struggling to retain possession.
20 min: Now it’s the Newcastle end in full voice. Blaydon Races. Oh me lads. Newcastle fully deserve this lead, they’ve been marvellous so far.
GOAL! Rochdale 0-1 Newcastle United (Almirion 18)
It had been coming, and it’s right that it’s the excellent Atsu who sets it up. He romps down the left yet again, cuts back yet again, and Almiron is on hand to whip a glorious shot into the roof of the net from 12 yards.
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16 min: The Rochdale fans launch into a hearty chorus of the English folk standard Robbie Savage Is A Wanker. It’s usually the sort of thing the TV technicians turn down, but this time, for some reason, BT Sport don’t bother. Full Dolby surround sound, turned up to 11. Once more with feeling.
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15 min: Yedlin drops a shoulder to skate past Keohane down the right, and should do better with his cross upon reaching the box. Rochdale clear, but it’s beginning to look like a matter of time before Newcastle score the opener.
14 min: Atsu is getting all sorts of room down the left. He reaches the white line and pulls back for Matty Longstaff, who takes a touch and sees his eventual shot deflected over the bar by the alert O’Connell. The resulting corner comes to nothing.
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12 min: Yedlin crosses from the right, having been sent skittering down the wing by Sean Longstaff. His low cross is intercepted and hoicked clear by O’Connell, with Joelinton lurking. Newcastle are showing plenty of menace in these opening exchanges.
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10 min: Hayden swings a cross in from a tight spot out on the left. It’s a decent ball, met by Joelinton’s header. Newcastle’s number nine aims for the top left, but doesn’t quite get enough purchase on the effort. But the Toon are soon coming straight back at Rochdale, Atsu again reaching the byline on the left and cutting back for Joelinton, who still can’t add to his season’s haul of one goal.
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8 min: Rochdale get their attack going for the first time this afternoon. Camps makes his way down the left and scoops inside for Henderson, who hooks a harmless effort well wide right from the edge of the box.
7 min: Krafth channels his inner Trent Alexander-Arnold, spraying a gloriously ambitious right-to-left pass towards Atsu on the left wing. Atsu reaches the byline and cuts back. The ball breaks right to Krafth, who had kept on trucking. Krafth’s looping cross is snaffled by Sanchez. But that move was both pretty and dangerous. Nice football from Newcastle.
5 min: Atsu wins the second corner of the match, bursting down the left and playing the ball off Magloire. Sean Longstaff tries again, and this delivery isn’t much better, easy pickings for Sanchez.
4 min: Yedlin rolls a cute pass across the face of the Rochdale box in the hope of teeing up Matty Longstaff. Camps nips in to block and clear before the renowned Manchester United botherer is able to take a whack on goal.
3 min: Sean Longstaff takes a short one, and makes an awful balls of it. After Newcastle noodle about in the futile style, Rochdale clear their lines.
2 min: Early signs that Newcastle aren’t in the mood to hang about. Almiron turns on the jets and bustles down the left, winning the first corner of the game.
And we’re off! Wolverhampton Wanderers Newcastle United get the ball rolling, to great cheers. The visitors stroke it around the back awhile. Krafth launches it long for Joelinton, but the ball sails harmlessly through to Sanchez in the Rochdale goal.
The weather is miserable. Rainy and cold. Greater Manchester in winter. But it’s not dampening the spirits of a packed Spotland. A cracking third-round atmosphere, exactly as it should be. Out come the teams, with the hosts wearing their blue and black striped tops. Newcastle are in third-choice old gold with black trim, the spit of Wolves. A classic look, even if it’s not theirs. We’ll be off in a minute ... one minute later than usual. Heads up.
Steve Bruce talks to BT Sport. “Newcastle’s recent history isn’t great reading. We want to have a cup run, if we can, so why not? I experienced it a few years ago at Hull. The first thing to do is get over today. There’s a couple of kids on the bench, but the team selection has been pretty easy because we are where we are, and we’ve got what we’ve got. Let’s hope we’ve got enough today. Everybody loves an underdog, that’s why the TV cameras are here. But that’s why the FA Cup is the competition it is.”
Some pre-match reading. Paul Wilson talks to Rochdale manager Brian Barry-Murphy.
Rochdale are just four points above the relegation places in League One. But they won their last match, 2-1 at Accrington, and make only one change to their starting XI. MJ Williams comes in for the injured Paul McShane. (Does anybody else have this earworm?)
Newcastle are missing Jamaal Lascelles, Allan Saint-Maximin, Jonjo Shelvey, Jetro Willems, Fabian Schar, Javier Manquillo, Paul Dummett and Andy Carroll ... but still name a strong XI, with seven international players in it. They make five changes to the team that was trounced by Leicester, with Emil Krath, Christian Atsu, both Longstaffs and, despite a broken hand, DeAndre Yedlin starting.
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The teams
Rochdale: Sanchez, Magloire, Williams, O’Connell, Keohane, Ryan, Rathbone, Dooley, Camps, Baah, Henderson.
Subs: McLaughlin, Andrew, Lynch, Wilbraham, Gillam, Tavares, Matheson.
Newcastle United: Dubravka, Krafth, Fernandez, Hayden, Yedlin, Matthew Longstaff, Sean Longstaff, Atsu, Muto, Almiron, Joelinton.
Subs: Ki, Ritchie, Lejeune, Darlow, Allan, Sorensen, Cass.
Referee: David Coote (Nottinghamshire).
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Preamble
Apologies to Newcastle United supporters for bringing it up yet again, but the definitive FA Cup third-round tie is this one. Ronnie Radford, Ricky George, Supermac, John Motson, kids in parkas, all that.
So what are the chances of Rochdale stunning the Toon like Hereford United did back in 1972? On the face of it, they’ve got a job on their hands. Newcastle might be struggling in the Premier League right now, having lost three of their last four matches, but the Dale have lost three of their last four too, and those in League One. Additionally, today’s hosts have only beaten a top-flight side once in 16 FA Cup ties, against Coventry City back in 1971.
However, the third round of the FA Cup is the third round of the FA Cup, and so hope is never lost. For a start, Newcastle have only won one of their last 16 away fixtures in the FA Cup. Goliath might not be that confident when he comes to town. And any trepidation they feel will surely be ramped up when they remember Rochdale’s brave performance at Old Trafford four months ago - they held Manchester United to a 1-1 draw in the League Cup before going out on penalties - and the Dale’s 2-2 draw with Spurs in the fifth round of this competition back in 2018. These minnows have form as botherers supreme.
Can the Dale pull off a shock? Or will Newcastle prevail as they dream of winning the famous old competition for the first time since 1955? We’ll find out soon enough. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.31pm GMT. Heads up.
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