Cheltenham Town

0-2

Newcastle United

 

 

Chopra 41, Parker 43


The FA Cup Fourth Round Proper
Whaddon Road
Saturday 28 January 2006
Winning club receives £60,000
£150,000 television payment for each club




Graeme Souness' side took their place in the Fifth Round after two goals just before half-time gave them victory over plucky Cheltenham Town.

The League Two side did all they could to upset Newcastle and produce one of the shocks of the weekend, but once young Michael Chopra had given the Premiership side the lead the result never looked in doubt.

Souness was pleased to make it through to the next round: "We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game, with the swirling wind and the bumpy pitch it was always a challenge.

"Cheltenham did very well and they gave us a very hard tie. All credit to them. At 2-0 up you have to feel comfortable but if they had scored in the second-half it would have made for a lively end to the game."

David Bird, who played despite his wife expecting their first child imminently, struck the first effort from Cheltenham after a quarter of an hour, but he failed to hit the target.

Then Alan Shearer almost broke Jackie Milburn's scoring record five minutes later following a free-kick by Nolberto Solano.

A Michael Townsend handball gave the Peruvian the opportunity to swing the ball into Shearer, but his header was saved by Shane Higgs.

Moments later Souness was fuming when Mike Riley denied Newcastle's claim for a penalty when Lee Clark went down in the box.

The deadlock was broken when Michael Chopra scored a header just four minutes before half-time. Higgs denied Babayaro but the rebound jumped up towards the awaiting Chopra who made no mistake from close range.

The goal rocked Cheltenham and they conceded a second goal just minutes later when Scott Parker was fortunate to score the first goal of his Newcastle career.

A cross from the right hand side caused confusion and the attempted clearance deflected off Parker's stomach and passed the helpless Higgs in the Cheltenham goal.

In the second half Cheltenham stretched Newcastle's defence on a number of occasions but were never able to capitalise on their powerful attacking play.

The best opportunity fell to Odejayi who took the ball strongly past Ramage and Given but lost composure at the critical moment and put the ball over the bar when the goal was gaping.

As the minutes clicked by it became more and more difficult for Cheltenham to believe they could get something from the match, but their loyal fans did not desert them and enjoyed their moment of glory in the Fourth Round of The FA Cup.

Newcastle kept possession in the closing moments and are the first team to go into the hat for Monday's Fifth Round draw, which you can watch live here on TheFA.com.

Cheltenham:

S Higgs, J Gill, G Caines, M Townsend, C Armstrong, J Melligan (86 A Vincent) , J Finnigan, D Bird, B Wilson, S Guinan (74 D Spencer) , K Odejayi
Subs not used: S Brown, S Duff, A Connolly

Newcastle:

S Given, P Ramage, J Boumsong, T Bramble, C Babayaro, N Solano (59 B Emre) , S Parker (76 A Luque) , L Clark, S Ameobi, A Shearer, M Chopra (66 C N'Zogbia)

Subs not used: S Harper, R Elliott

Referee: Mike Riley