Happy day for their 500 fans who had bothered, while our 50,000 traipsed off in misery | OneFootball

Just another day then of being intolerably Newcastle then.

Every now and then, one of these comes along, where the game is etched in the annals of misery.

When reminders come, via an “on this day” type reference on every March 2nd or whenever you think back over the reasons we still haven’t won the FA Cup for another seven decades, it delivers a stab of misery that transports you back to the mental destruction of the day itself.

Of course, this had airs about it reminiscent of the home game with Liverpool two years ago. Of course, it repeated the harbingers of doom that blighted that day.

There were two possible positive outcomes to this.

Newcastle could either go for it and navigate their way successfully into an FA Cup quarter final in a severely diminished field, or they could keep a bit back to safeguard everyone for the Carabao Cup final. It turned out to be neither, plus a healthy dose of additional negatives.

It all felt fine when Minteh went ploughing through Livramento to present Isak with an opener from the penalty spot. It looked great when Isak pulled off and doubled the lead. This was disallowed correctly, although if Harvey Barnes had delivered his pass when Isak started his run, instead of pointlessly delaying, we’d have been having a much jollier report to enjoy here.

Then the tropes began.

The stupid Newcastle-isms that won’t go away.

With 42 minutes on the clock, just control the game lads, keep the lead until half time. That lad we sold for pure profit, don’t let him score, it’s too painfully obvious. Oh you’ve done both, marvellous. There was mitigation here, as a Brighton throw-in was taken much further forward than its award, catching the defence a few yards ahead and allowing Minteh to equalise via a deflection off Trippier. It felt doomed from here.

Then came the Nick Pope moment.

Willock’s retrieval of a thwarted attack looked promising as he played in Gordon but a flag went straight up as a tussle ensued between Gordon and Van Hecke, who was leaning on our bloke in a blatant obstruction. Anthony Taylor hadn’t bothered booking anyone from Brighton for an afternoon of such fouls so he was empowered to do this and Gordon was exhibiting signs of frustration as he delivered a “double axe handle” to the back of the Dutchman’s neck. Course he went down like he’d been the victim of an actual axe attack and we had the horrific deja vu of a red card being brandished to a key player within suspension range of the final. Howe hinted at a futile appeal but the raised hands kibosh any mitigating circumstances, Gordon is out for Wembley.

As if this bit of trauma wasn’t enough of a Newcastle trope, what’s this we see next? Oh, it’s Isak sat on the ground looking distressed. Off he goes for Wilson to look every bit as rusty as he did at Anfield.

Then, a threat of redemption.

Murphy teased a bad foul out of Lamptey, who followed Gordon down the tunnel after a second yellow. From the resultant free kick, Schar reacted quickly to volley in an injury time winner. This may have been the worst bit of the day for me. I haven’t watched it again and I’m not going to, but it seems like this was retrospectively disallowed by VAR because of one of those pathetic checks where the attackers fringe is slightly ahead of the defender, if you measure it 27 different ways and look really hard for it. This needs to go back to daylight because these decisions are pathetic and taking five minutes to chalk it off just hammers home how not obvious it is.

Of course Brighton won. Dubravka messed up a clearance under no pressure and the return ball was dinked in by Welbeck. Obviously, losing a proud home record to a Danny Welbeck goal back in October wasn’t enough to fire the players up to make sure it didn’t happen again, and the side with Champions League and cup winning ambitions was beaten again by a goal from a 33 year old striker for a side who were beaten 7-0 by Nottingham Forest the other week. Happy day for their 500 fans who had bothered, while our 50,000 traipsed off in misery.

It’s hard to see the good days from here.

The cup final is starting to feel like the trips in the late 90s, or the semi final in Cardiff in 2004, where we go down there utterly bereft of confidence and hoping for an absolute Hail Mary to come off. We now go there without Gordon. There is a doubt over Isak, although I’d expect him to make it, but there’s a question if he’ll be his absolute sharpest after another scare.

Lewis Hall, our player of the season in my opinion, also missed today with a hitherto unreported ankle problem that is subject to the dreaded scan.

The seemingly endless Botman saga that saw him absent again, leads one to believe we are once again reaching a perfect storm of injuries and an utter lack of form and confidence ahead of the ultimate Final Boss of Newcastle Tropes: failure to turn up at Wembley and crushing disappointment for tens of thousands who so desperately crave things to just, for once, be better.

Were we to have suffered that disappointment, there was potential for a redemptive arc as the FA Cup quarter final would have been the next match. It’ll be a month today against Brentford, where things will probably click frustratingly as we battle to regain seventh place to stay in the conference league reckoning.

It’s harsh to judge on days like this.

Is the fact we can’t seem to beat Brighton or Bournemouth an indication of some limitations Howe has that we simply can’t overcome? But for anyone advocating new management, ask yourself if anyone could do better with a squad peppered with aging key personnel and PSR limits on who can be brought in. The Newcastle United owners’ unwillingness to either properly capitalise on Man City’s various fights against these restrictions, or bring in the various kit/training ground/stadium sponsorships that could advance matters here, makes you wonder if we can ever do any better than Howe’s ability to get a tune out of the limited pool of players we can bring in.

That pool is drying up now, as our big chance to turn the tide in our favour looms large. The loss of Gordon in such stupid circumstances is the biggest kick from today, but I can’t even face the idea of West Ham a week on Monday. The game cannot be ignored, as we need every point available towards Europe, but it feels any sort of serious effort put in will fire up the Gods of Footballing Mischief to bring more bad juju our way ahead of Wembley.

If it’s the hope that kills you, our survival chances have increased, as I can feel that commodity draining low. All eggs in that three handled basket now lads, please find something to blast away the curse.

Newcastle 1 Brighton 2 (AET) – Sunday 2 March 2025 1.45pm

Goals:

Isak 22 pen, Gordon red card 83

Brighton:

Minteh 44, Lamptey red card 90+1, Welbeck 114 extra time

Possession was Newcastle 48% Brighton 52%

Total shots were Newcastle 15 Brighton 21

Shots on target were Newcastle 5 Brighton 5

Corners were Newcastle 6 Brighton 5

Touches in the box Newcastle 38 Brighton 45

Newcastle team v Brighton:

Dubravka, Livramento, Trippier (Targett 69), Schar, Burn, Joelinton (Willock 56), Tonali, Miley (Bruno 56), Gordon, Isak (Wilson 86), Barnes (Murphy 56)

Unused subs:

Pope, Krafth, Osula, Longstaff

You can follow the author on BlueSky @bigjimwinsalot.bsky.social

(Newcastle 1 Brighton 2 (AET) – Match ratings and comments on all Newcastle United players – Read HERE)

(Newcastle 1 Brighton 2 (AET) – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction – Read HERE)

(An opportunity lost – Newcastle 1 Brighton 2 (AET) – Read HERE)

Upcoming Newcastle United fixtures:

Monday 10 March – West Ham v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Sunday 16 March – Newcastle v Liverpool (4.30pm) Carabao Cup final Sky Sports

Wednesday 2 April – Newcastle v Brentford (7.45pm)

Monday 7 April – Leicester v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Sunday 13 April – Newcastle v Man U (4.30pm) Sky Sports

Wednesday 16 April – Newcastle v Palace (7.30pm)