Newcastle 1 — 1 Blackburn
by Harry De Cosemo
at St James’ Park

MATT RITCHIE’S late penalty salvaged a replay for Newcastle against Championship side Blackburn in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.

Bradley Dack thought he had won it for the underdogs with his second-half header, but Ritchie stepped up to equalise from the spot six minutes from time.

The Magpies scarcely deserve a second chance of progression after another abject display, which was met with boos at the final whistle.

Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez says failing to win at home was disappointing and admits playing another game is the worst case scenario.

“It is disappointing that we didn’t win and have to play another game,” he said.

 “Yes [it is the worst case scenario]. Another game is something we have to manage, with more minutes and more risk.

“But the reaction of the team was good in the final minutes and you have to take that as a positive.”

With the shackles of the league off for the evening, proceedings started openly. Blackburn enjoyed a good spell, with former Newcastle man Adam Armstrong heavily involved, forcing three corners. 

The hosts had the best chance of the first ten minutes, though, when Joselu forced David Raya into a save with an acrobatic effort from inside the box.

Just before the half hour mark, he really should have put Newcastle ahead. The striker, in for Salomon Rondon, picked up the pieces from Fabian Schar’s long ball and fed Ritchie on halfway, but his shot from point-blank range was blocked after Raya parried his teammate’s effort.

Two minutes before half-time, Blackburn almost made their aerial dominance count, but Darragh Lenihan headed wide from Charlie Mulgrew’s corner.

Jacob Murphy’s first sight of goal came just moments after the restart, but he couldn’t keep his effort down. Ritchie had laid a good ball across the edge of the box and into his path.

Blackburn’s architect for much of the game was Dack, who went close just before giving Rovers the lead. He failed to convert when one-on-one with Freddie Woodman, but crashed a header into the roof of the net on 56 minutes. 

It could have been two soon after, when Mulgrew saw a header cleared off the line. At the other end, Newcastle had a penalty appeal waved away with the video assistant referee in play, before Ritchie shot wide from the right.

Christian Atsu and Ayoze Perez came on to try and rescue the game for Newcastle, and the latter certainly had a hand in doing just that when he was brought down for a penalty which Ritchie duly dispatched.

Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray admitted his side were disappointed not to have booked a place in round four already.

“The dressing room is very quiet, we dominated for 85 minutes and couldn’t see Newcastle scoring,” he said. “We’ve got a great spirit, togetherness and camaraderie and that takes us a long way. That was evident today.”