Newcastle 4-1 Bradford
by Roger Domeneghetti
at St James’ Park

JOB done. Banana skin avoided. With just one win in their first six games so far this season, this was a game that could have caused all manner of problems for Newcastle. In the end, a brace for Joelinton and another for Will Osula saw the League Cup holders cruise into the last 16 with relative ease.

“We wanted to win today,” said Newcastle boss Eddie Howe. “We wanted to score. We wanted to entertain. We had to be patient but once we got into our groove, we were very good today.”

They had to weather a brief early flurry from their visitors. Bradford have taken League One by storm following promotion, sitting top of the table with 20 points after nine games and they started the brightest, Bobby Pointon and Brad Halliday forcing smart saves from Aaron Ramsdale in the opening couple of minutes.

However, it was a case of what might have been for The Bantams. Those opportunities missed, Newcastle took control of the game. Joelinton grabbed the opener, latching on to a loose ball and side-footing it into the net after Anthony Gordon’s shot was blocked by Halliday. Less than two minutes later, the hosts doubled their lead, Bruno Guimaraes splitting the Bradford defence with an incisive pass to find Osula, who side-footed home. 

The game was effectively done and dusted as a contest at that point and Newcastle went hunting for more. Gordon and Osula, twice, drew smart saves from Sam Walker. In the second half, both were guilty of poor misses, while Guimaraes hit the cross bar with a smart shot flicked on with the outside of his boot.

It wasn’t until the 74th minute that Newcastle grabbed their third, Guimaraes finding an unmarked Joelinton on the penalty spot. The fourth came on the 87th minute, Harvey Barnes slid the ball through to Osula at the far post for an easy tap-in.

Less than a week after the visit of Barcelona, the atmosphere was, perhaps understandably, a little flat. It was the 5,000 Bradford fans who had made the trip north up the A1, that made most of the noise. So, it was that the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Bradford goalscorer, Andy Cook. On as a second-half sub, The Newcastle fan fulfilled a childhood dream of playing at St James’ Park and capped it with a well-taken consolation goal.