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Matt Ritchie taps home his second goal, and Newcastle United’s third, against Birmingham City in their FA Cup third-round replay.
Matt Ritchie taps home his second goal, and Newcastle United’s third, against Birmingham City in their FA Cup third-round replay. Photograph: Richard Lee/BPI/REX/Shutterstock
Matt Ritchie taps home his second goal, and Newcastle United’s third, against Birmingham City in their FA Cup third-round replay. Photograph: Richard Lee/BPI/REX/Shutterstock

Jonjo Shelvey inspires Newcastle to FA Cup replay victory over Birmingham

This article is more than 7 years old

Jonjo Shelvey’s superior vision and exquisite passing range not only earned Newcastle United a fourth-round trip to Oxford United but ensured Gianfranco Zola’s wait for his first victory as Birmingham City’s manager continues.

The good news for Zola is that, even after first‑half goals from Matt Ritchie and Yoan Gouffran had seemed to seal this replay for Rafael Benítez’s team, his players never gave up. They were briefly rewarded when David Cotterill finally reduced the deficit to make things interesting for a while before Ritchie reasserted Tyneside dominance by meeting Shelvey’s cross to lash his second goal home in stoppage time.

FA Cup fourth round draw

• Blackburn Rovers v Blackpool

• Burnley v Bristol City

• Chelsea v Brentford

• Crystal Palace v Manchester City

• Derby County v Leicester City

• Fulham v Hull City

• Lincoln City v Brighton & Hove Albion

• Liverpool v Wolves

• Manchester United v Wigan Athletic

• Middlesbrough v Accrington Stanley

• Millwall v Watford

• Southampton v Arsenal

• Oxford United v Newcastle United

• Rochdale v Huddersfield Town

• Sutton United v Leeds United

• Tottenham Hotspur v Wycombe Wanderers

Ties to be played 27-29 January

It was the third goal Shelvey had created as he, perhaps controversially, returned from a five-match suspension for racially abusing Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Romain Saïss wearing the captain’s armband. “It was a big boost to us to have Jonjo back though – the way he passes the ball and dictates the tempo is so important,” Benítez said. “We saw his quality today, he makes others play.”

Asked why he had, unusually, made Shelvey captain in the wake of his racial abuse punishment, Newcastle’s manager indicated he had been delivering a point to the Football Association and said that both Wolves’ accusations and the ruling body’s verdict, contested by the midfielder, had been: “A surprise – and, for us, it doesn’t change anything.”

The same could be said of Benítez’s team-sheet which gave senior debuts to three youngsters: Stuart Findlay at centre‑half, Dan Barlaser in midfield and Yasin Ben El-Mhanni in a left‑sided attacking role in Newcastle’s fluid 4-3-3 formation.

If the latter name seems vaguely familiar, El-Mhanni, a 20-year-old Londoner of Moroccan parentage, is a regular star of TV commercials showcasing outrageous football skills and tricks while sometimes doubling for Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar.

All told Benítez made eight changes to his starting XI, while Zola contributed six. “It was important to win but we have so many games we needed to rest some players,” said Benítez.

After six games without a win since succeeding Gary Rowett, Zola’s need of victory was arguably greater but his side soon fell behind. Inevitably, Shelvey was the creator, the playmaker delivering a fabulous, curving, through pass of the sort Newcastle have missed so badly in recent weeks towards Gouffran.

When Adam Legzdins, Birmingham’s panicking goalkeeper, fouled Gouffran, Lee Probert had no hesitation in booking him and awarding a penalty. Ritchie dispatched his left‑footed kick straight down the middle.

Creditably, Birmingham refused to surrender. Indeed Cotterill’s 25-yard shot looked to be heading for the top corner with Matz Sels beaten before swerving inches wide, while it took a fine, last gasp interception on the impressive DeAndre Yedlin’s part to prevent David Davis from scoring.

If El-Mhanni was rather more tightly marked than he would have liked by Josh Dacres-Cogley, Zola’s players struggled to second-guess Shelvey and Ritchie.

Relishing a longed for chance to operate in a central striking role rather than wide on the left, Gouffran was similarly lively and brushed a post before scoring. A splendidly balletic volley, the Frenchman’s goal began when he connected with Shelvey’s free‑kick and brought the ball under control by flicking it up, swivelling and lashing it beyond Legzdins. Bewitching finish as it was, Zola’s at-fault goalkeeper and defenders will probably need to watch TV replays through their fingers.

There was still time for a Ritchie shot to rebound off the inside of a post before half-time. That interval afforded a chance for Findlay to reflect on a composed defensive performance, Barlaser on some extremely promising touches and El-Mhanni on a robust welcome to the big time from defenders extremely unwilling to be made fools of.

With Legzdins saving smartly from Achraf Lazaar, El-Mhanni departing to warm applause and Cheik Tioté collecting a surely inevitable yellow card for an awful challenge on Reece Brown, the evening seemed to be drifting towards a straightforward victory for the Championship leaders who had won only twice without Shelvey.

Then, out of the blue, Cotterill set up an intriguing finale by lashing a shot beyond Sels from 12 yards after Lucas Jutkiewicz’s clever chip was headed down by Maikel Kieftenbeld. It was too little, too late.

“I’m disappointed we conceded two cheap first-half goals,” said Zola. “It’s not pleasant not to have won for seven games but I know we deserved another goal at the end. The difference was they had Shelvey and he’s very influential. Shelvey ran the show.”

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