TOON BLOW
Newcastle 0 Cambridge 1: Toon KO’d from FA Cup after ‘pathetic’ defeat to League One minnows
JOE IRONSIDE gatecrashed Kieran Trippier's party as League One Cambridge dumped Premier League Newcastle out of the FA Cup at St James' Park.
The England full-back was handed a Magpies debut in the third-round tie a day after completing his move from Atletico Madrid, but celebrations over his arrival turned sour as Cambridge heaped further misery on Eddie Howe's relegation-threatened side.
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Ironside made the most of some less than effective defending to score the game's only goal with 56 minutes gone.
Newcastle, who had earlier seen Fabian Schar and Jacob Murphy strikes correctly ruled out for offside, were unable to muster an effective response in front of a bumper crowd of 51,395.
Newcastle legend Alan Shearer blasted the performance as 'pathetic'.
Gary Lineker posted a picture of the angry-looking Shearer to , who was trying to prepare himself for the BBC's coverage of Hull vs Everton.
Shearer responded to the pic saying: "Well done Cambridge. Pathetic NUFC."
For the visitors, who sit in 16th place in the third tier, it proved to be a famous afternoon as they booked a place in the fourth round in fairytale fashion.
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Keeper Dimitar Mitov producing a string of fine saves, one of them a stunning effort to keep out Joelinton's injury-time header.
Trippier made his presence felt vocally as well as on the ball as a promising start by the Premier League side fell victim to a series of errors.
The Magpies were fortunate not to be made to pay for a lack of concentration which allowed visiting full-back George Williams a free header from a 16th-minute short corner.
Allan Saint-Maximin, who had earlier dragged an attempt wide, was unable to hit the target after meeting Murphy's cross at full-stretch two minutes later.
He then just failed to get on the end of Joelinton stabbed 21st-minute pass with the home side finally starting to find a rhythm.
Mitov did well to turn away Murphy's curling effort from Saint-Maximin's intelligent pass, but fielded Joelinton's header from a Ryan Fraser corner with some comfort.
The Magpies, playing for the first time in 12 days, were dominating possession but wasting much of it with a series of aimless crosses which caused the visitors' defence few problems.
However, Mitov did have to save from Saint-Maximin and Murphy in quick succession either side of a correctly-disallowed Schar strike.
In the meantime, last man Matt Ritchie had been given the benefit of the doubt by both referee Michael Salisbury and VAR official Peter Bankes after an untidy challenge on Harvey Knibbs.
Mitov then had to excel himself on the stroke of half-time to divert Murphy's rasping drive on to the crossbar, and was grateful to see Joelinton steer Trippier's corner straight into his waiting arms two minutes after the restart.
Murphy's accomplished 51st-minute finish counted for nothing after an offside flag ruined his celebrations, and Trippier could not beat the defensive wall with a free-kick four minutes later as the Magpies' frustration grew.
The mood inside St James' Park took a turn for the worse when first Martin Dubravka and then Fabian Schar failed to deal with a ball into the box and Cambridge forward Ironside pounced to put the visitors ahead.
Newcastle's response was concerted, but disjointed as extensive possession failed to yield meaningful opportunities, although Cambridge needed a superb Mitov save from Joelinton's late header to seal an unlikely win.
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Newcastle are expected to dip back into the transfer market in the hope of shoring up the defence.
The Magpies - who have one win in 21 games - have been linked with moves for West Ham's Issa Diop, Lille's Sven Botman and Sevilla's Diego Carlos.
⚽ Read our Transfer News Live blog for the very latest rumours, gossip and done deals
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