Newcastle United came through a tricky tie at League One leaders Birmingham City to book their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Eddie Howe made nine changes from Wednesday’s 2-0 Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg win over Arsenal, with only Dan Burn and Bruno Guimaraes retaining their places.
Both Nick Pope and Callum Wilson made their first appearances since Brentford on December 7 while Sven Botman (knee) and Anthony Gordon (thigh) dropped out of the squad with minor knocks.
St Andrew’s was rocking come kick-off and the visitors got off the worst possible start when Ethan Laird’s opened the scoring, with the final touch coming off Wilson in a goalmouth scramble.
Birmingham had Newcastle rattled in the opening exchange but Howe’s side drew level in the 22nd minute when Willock’s effort was deemed to have crossed the line by the eyes of the linesman.
Wilson delivered the cross which was cut back by Osula and struck at goal by Willock. Blues goalkeeper Bailey Peacock Farrell pushed away the effort and without goal line technology, the linesman made the brave, but possibly incorrect call of awarding the goal.
It was a big turning point in the match as the Magpies took the lead immediately after. Sean Longstaff found the run of Tino Livramento, whose cross was parried by Peacock-Farrell and eventually poked home by Wilson for his first goal since May last year.
But an eventful first-half didn’t end there when a quite stunning strike from Tomoki Iwata levelled the score again.
Newcastle managed to find a winner in the 82nd minute when Willock scored his second.
Our writer Jordan Cronin was at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park - and here are his Newcastle player ratings:
1. GettyImages-2198404867
Getty Images
2. Nick Pope - 7
Pinged a pass to Will Osula in the build-up to Newcastle’s goal though had a couple of nervy moments with the ball at his feet. Pulled off an excellent save to stop Keshi Anderson from making it 2-0 before denying Birmingham from a corner at 3-2. | Getty Images
3. Tino Livramento - 6
Brought energy going forward. Delivered the cross that Callum Wilson eventually poked home for 2-1 but other times lacked the final ball. | AFP via Getty Images
4. Emil Krafth - 7
A pretty solid display on what was his first start since October. Put in some brave tackles and generally used the ball well. | Getty Images