Newcastle United and Blackburn draw 1-1 at St. James’ Park

Newcastle United scored a late penalty to salvage a draw against Blackburn at St. James’ Park.

Rafa Benitez surprised many supporters with his team selection as he made several changes for today’s match against Blackburn. The following players started for Newcastle United in today’s 1-1 draw against Blackburn:

Freddie Woodman, Jamie Sterry, Florian Lejeune, Fabian Schar, Javier Manquillo, Jacob Murphy, Sean Longstaff, Isaac Hayden, Kenedy, Matt Ritchie and Joselu. This combination of first team and reserve players created a competitive match. Here is how things played out in this FA Cup clash at St. James’ Park.

First Half

Newcastle were the more dominant side in the opening 45 minutes of this match and it was evident that the home side wanted to score an early goal as they pushed several bodies forward. The Magpies came close to opening the scoring in the seventh minute through a clever corner kick, but Schar’s scissor kick attempt was saved by David Raya.

Soon after, in the 11th minute, Blackburn had their best chance of the match as a curling cross met Bradley Dack at the penalty spot, but he failed to execute his volley properly and Woodman was able to make an easy save.

A quarter of the way through the first half, Newcastle already had five shot attempts and they kept the attack going. A great interception in the 22nd minute led to a three on two attack for Newcastle, but Joselu went for a weak shot attempt from a poor angle instead of passing it off to Ritchie in the middle who had a better look at goal. A few minutes later, it was Ritchie who was leading the attack. The Scotsman cut inside and fired a cracking shot from distance that bounced off Raya, but Joselu’s rebound attempt was deflected out of play for a corner.

Things started to slow down for Newcastle after that, but Blackburn started to wake up. The final five minutes of the first half were dominated by the visitors as they earned two corner kicks and spread the ball out wide to deliver multiple crosses. In the end, both teams went into the tunnel on level terms, 0-0.

Second Half

Newcastle put their foot on the gas pedal to start the second half as a brilliant pass from Ritchie on the wing found Murphy just outside the box, but the winger launched the ball into the stands. Blackburn looked more confident and they came close to scoring in the 51st minute, but a last second tackle saved the Magpies from conceding a goal.

Five minutes later, however, Dack made the home side suffer as he bullied Sterry around to get in good position to bury a header at the near post. Newcastle were slow to react after that goal and Blackburn almost made it 2-0 in the 64th minute when a header was cleared off the line by Manquillo.

Newcastle finally woke up after Jonjo Shelvey came on and he almost a scored header off a corner kick in the 66th minute. The saved shot bounced generously to Lejeune, but his shot was blocked and then Schar’s bicycle kick effort was cleared off the line by Dack. A minute later, Ritchie took on two defenders, cut inside the edge of the box and forced a difficult save from Raya to earn yet another corner kick.

Only a few minutes after coming on as a sub, Ayoze Perez earned a penalty kick in the 82nd minute and it was Ritchie who buried the shot in the side netting to make the score 1-1. It was an eventful match, but the two teams finished on level terms. Newcastle will now have to travel to Blackburn for the second leg of this third round fixture.