Newcastle United took their woeful form from the Premier League to the FA Cup as they hosted lower division side, Cambridge which they could not defeat despite playing in front of 50,000 supporters.
The Premier League club had countless goalscoring opportunities that they could not convert. Hence, their 23 shots, 9 on target could not make the difference at the end of the encounter.
Cambridge only had seven shots, four of which were on target. One of the shots on target found his way to the back of the net in the 56th minute thanks to Joe Ironside’s strike.
Even though Newcastle United recruit Kieran Trippier played for 90 minutes, his presence could not make much difference as Cambridge ran away with a 1-0 victory.
The defeat means that the journey of Newcastle United in the 2021-2022 FA Cup campaign has ended in the third round of the competition. It also means that since Coach Eddie Howe replaced Steve Bruce as the coach of the club in November 2021, the coach has managed to win just one match in all competitions.
Even though Newcastle United have been suffering strings of disappointing results in all competitions, the club’s supporters who are hopeful that the club’s new owners, Saudi Arabia back consortium will turn the club around, have never seized to show the team unwavering support.
After the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Cambridge on Saturday, coach Howe admitted that he is devastated for the supporters of the club.
🗡 𝗦𝗶𝗿 @22Mitov has a ring to it 🗡
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 8, 2022
A heroic defensive performance a long with a Joe Ironside goal sends @CambridgeUtdFC through to the #EmiratesFACup fourth round after overcoming Newcastle United! 🙌#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/u2gKYAVG55
“We’re devastated for them”, the coach said during the post-match press conference. “A great atmosphere, incredible feeling all the way during the game, even when we went behind, really willing the team to find an equalizer.
“It didn’t totally surprise me – since I’ve been here, that’s what the supporters have been like.
“Devastated for them, feel their pain and it motivates me to try to repay their faith and their support by winning games very soon.”
Newcastle United missed Callum Wilson
As mentioned earlier, Newcastle United recorded 23 shots, 9 of which were on target. This means that if the club’s highest goalscorer, Callum Wilson was on the pitch, the game would not have ended in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Cambridge.
Wilson is currently battling a calf injury. A recent scan on his calf revealed that the footballer will need at least eight weeks to fully recover from the injury.
This is a big blow for Newcastle that are currently sitting on the 19th spot on the Premier League table and are out of the FA Cup campaign for this season.
While confirming that Wilson would be sidelined for eight weeks, coach Howe said: “He had a scan yesterday, because there was a slight doubt over his initial scan and we needed to let it heal a bit further.
“I think he’s going to be out for eight weeks.”
Before he was injured, Wilson had played 15 Premier League games in which he scored 6 goals. As it stands, the 29-year-old English striker is expected to return to full fitness on March 1, 2022.
