Yeading v Newcastle United
The FA Cup, Third Round
Loftus Road (Queens Park Rangers FC)
Sunday 09 January 2005



Yeading took the underdog’s baton from Exeter City and ran their hearts out against Newcastle United in The FA Cup - but in the end they couldn’t quite reach the finishing line.

The Ryman Premier League side were the lowest ranked team left in The FA Cup but put up an incredible fight against Premiership side Newcastle.

They held their rivals 0-0 until half-time and never looked out of their depth even when Lee Bowyer and Shola Ameobi sealed victory for the visitors early in the second half.

Spurred on by Exeter’s exploits at Old Trafford 24 hours earlier, Yeading had Newcastle sweating in the first half and won a string of new fans in front of a crowd of more than 10,000 at Loftus Road.

They played totally without fear , with the midfield trio of David Clarke, Darti Brown and Davis Haule all outstanding and striker DJ Campbell making a constant nuisance of himself.

Their best chance to score came after 23 minutes when Clarke saw a 20-yard free-kick superbly turned around the post by keeper Stephen Harper. And the same player came just as close in the dying minutes with a 25-yard effort that was well saved.

In between those opportunities, Newcastle won it with second-half goals from Bellamy and Ameobi and also missed a string of chances.

But manager Graeme Souness was quick to admire his battling opponents – and to pay tribute to the magic of The FA Cup.

He said: "People are saying it’s been a great weekend for The FA Cup, but it’s always been a great competition, it doesn’t need strengthening It’s still the number one knockout competition in the world.

"You saw that today because it was a proper FA Cup tie and they pushed us all the way. Yeading have come into the game with a history of winning matches. They are top of their league and are used to having the taste of victory in their mouths every week - and that showed.

"It was never going to be easy for us. It was a difficult pitch and the wind didn’t help our game, but credit to Yeading they kept on going and right up until the second goal it was very much game on.

"We were guilty of missing some great chances, as well as the two we scored we could have had four or five more. But at half-time I had a go at them because I felt we weren’t competing. Yeading wanted to test our resolve and see if we were up for the battle and we didn’t respond. We were losing too many 50-50s.

"In the second half we went up a gear and then we started to dominate. But Yeading made it hard and overall it was a proper game of football, one I would have loved to have played in."

Yeading manager Johnson Hippolyte was an emotional man after watching his players perform so well.

He said: "Apart from the birth of my children this was the second proudest moment of my life. The lads did fantastically well. In the dressing room afterwards they were proud of themselves and they deserve to be.

"I have said to everybody all along that we were technically a good side and mentally very strong. And we showed it," he said.

England Head Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson watched from the stands - another reason for Hippolyte to be happy.

"I've heard he's looking for a coach, so I'm up for some of that! I'm just hoping he feels he saw a good game of football from a grassroots team."