Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has defended his players’ attitude in Saturday’s shock FA Cup third-round defeat at home to League One side Cambridge and has urged the team to bounce back next time out.
The Magpies named a full-strength team at St James’ Park with new recruit Kieran Trippier handed his debut following his move from Atletico Madrid, with Howe having described the match as a must-win game beforehand.
Newcastle, who are 19th in the Premier League, had hoped to use the match to build momentum and install some confidence, but were ultimately dumped out of the competition in embarrassing fashion.
The home side dominated much of the match and twice thought they had netted only to be denied by offside calls before Joe Ironside gave the League One side a shock lead in the 56th minute.
In a frantic period of play, Fabian Schar cleared the ball off the line only for Ironside to swivel and fire the rebound into the back of the net before Cambridge – and goalkeeper Dimitar Mitrov in particular – produced a fantastic rear-guard display to preserve their lead.
The victory is Cambridge’s first ever away win against a top-flight side in the FA Cup and compounds Newcastle’s woes in what has been a miserable season, though Howe defended his side’s application and felt they were unlucky to go out.
He told BBC Sport: ‘We are desperately disappointed. We really prepared well for this game and we played a very strong team.
‘But ultimately we found a goalkeeper in superb form and a team that defended for their lives and we couldn’t break them down. I don’t think there was anything wrong with our attitude we just couldn’t deliver the quality to score.
‘The players are very disappointed. They know the importance of the FA Cup and they…
Source : metro
