FA Cup Third Round
Saturday 4th January 2020
Football is a simple game and sometimes it's those involved who over-complicate it.
Trailing at the break to Miguel Almiron's opener, Rochdale were being out-played, out-classed, out-fought, out-thought and looked completely out of their depth against a Newcastle United team who, somehow, hadn't emphasised their dominance by scoring more goals.
Fast-forward to the final whistle and Brian Barry-Murphy's hosts, two divisions below the Magpies, could have considered themselves unlucky not to have won.
The stark difference was Aaron Wilbraham whose introduction at half-time changed the game.
The veteran has been around the blocks and provided an effective presence up top, immediately began to organise his team-mates and dished out a couple of cheeky blows to get 'under the skin' of Newcastle's centre-halves who'd had things far too comfortably throughout the opening 45 minutes. At the same point, the hosts also began to play 'direct' - working off his presence to create openings in search of an equaliser!
It was no shock whatsoever that he struck the equaliser with about 10 minutes to go. Although 'keeper Robert Sanchez somehow scooped the sponsors' 'Man of the Match' award, everything good went though either Wilbraham or Oliver Rathbone who was equally as eye-catching and something of a driving force in centre-midfield.
In hindsight, why the veteran didn't start is mystifying, but given his contribution (and the fact that, tactically, his team were miles off the pace to start with) it seems a nigh on certainty that he'll lead the line from the outset in the replay at St James' Park.
For Newcastle, they only have themselves to blame that they didn't win!
They moved the ball well in the first period, attackers frequently took up good positions and there were always two or three positive options going forward. Sadly, however, Matty Longstaff (in particular) and DeAndre Yedlin (less so) all too often seemed to want to deliver balls/crosses towards the much-maligned Joelinton - and it wasn't always the best option!
Almiron's opener around the quarter-hour mark after a really strong start was a fantastic example which best demonstrated what they could do. Nevertheless, in the half-hour or so thereafter, when they were still streets ahead of their lower-league counterparts, they weren't able to put the ball in the net again to emphasise their dominance and thus put the result beyond doubt.
To put into words how poor Rochdale were in the opening 45 minutes, numerous times Yedlin was left completely unattended on the right flank. Kwadwo Baah, who was supposed to be marking him, just didn't do it in the slightest and even though he's still a youth team player, none of his team-mates seemed interested in helping him out by telling him where to be, positionally.
It was that bad - but Newcastle couldn't absolutely hammer home their dominance like they should have done and it proved costly. Newcastle's fans turned out in great numbers and were in brilliant voice for the vast majority of proceedings with over 3,000 of them making the journey on what was a stereotypical grim Greater Manchester day.
The 'Toon Army' weren't rewarded, therefore, Steve Bruce has every right to slaughter his players and probably did afterwards behind closed doors, despite being relatively reserved and philosophical in his post-match comments to the media.
On a personal note, this was my first trip to Spotland in seven years (and first ever for a 'random' game); the last visit being a 3-0 walloping of Mansfield Town on Boxing Day 2013. It means that I've now seen 975 competitive games in the United Kingdom, overall - spanning 18 years, though I still don't think I'll reach 1,000 by the end of the season.
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