'Very tough' - Newcastle United star reacts after being ruled out for four months

Elliot Anderson was back in action for Newcastle United on Tuesday night following four months out with a back injury.

The 21-year-old hadn't featured since the Magpies' 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in October. And after returning to training on Monday, Eddie Howe wasted no time in naming the midfielder in his squad for the FA Cup fifth round visit to Blackburn Rovers.

Anderson watched on from the bench as Anthony Gordon's opener was cancelled out by Sammie Szmodics to send the game into extra-time. Neither side could find a winner, which prompted Howe to replace 17-year-old Lewis Miley with Anderson in order to take a penalty.

With little time remaining, Anderson didn't touch the ball until he stepped up to take United's fourth spot-kick. He kept his cool as Newcastle won the shootout 4-3 to advance into the quarter-finals of the competition for only the second time in 18 years.

And the Scotland youth international couldn't hide his delight at full-time. Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: "It’s been a very tough period on the sidelines away from the team, last night is exactly what I missed! So happy to have the shirt back on @NUFC."

Meanwhile, Howe was full of praise for Anderson. The United boss said: "It's worth noting how much I trust him because I was bringing him on the pitch to take a penalty, I took Lewy off and put Elliot on because I trust him in the big moments.

"He's technically very good, he's a specialist set-piece taker, penalty taker but he hasn't played, he hasn't really trained although he's worked incredibly hard on his rehab and he looks really fit so I'm really pleased with him but he's coming in cold. Big credit for him for how he took his penalty."