Newcastle knock Oxford out of the FA Cup.

Newcastle knock Oxford out of the FA Cup.

In the dreaming spires of Oxford the dons and undergraduates normally do things at a very leisurely pace. Deep within the college cloisters and quadrangles the students get their heads down and absorb as much knowledge as they can, invariably turning their thoughts to either politics or a career in law. Some become professors or scientists, others doctors or mathematicians. Many throw themselves into something so sufficiently challenging and intellectually rewarding that football could be regarded as a last resort.

Last night though Oxford United of League two took Premier League powerhouses Newcastle United all the way to the finishing line and only stumbled at the last hurdle. By the end Steve Bruce, the Newcastle United manager, was blowing out his cheeks and hoping that he won't have to find any team quite as stubborn on the FA Cup route. This is familiar territory for Newcastle since the FA Cup is more or less a hot potato which they simply can't digest and every so often things get very fraught and complicated.

Newcastle United, perhaps much to their own embarrassment, haven't won the FA Cup since 1955 when the greyness that had hung over the nation since the end of the Second World War still glowered over the whole of Britain like a threatening cloud. Back then the classical pairing of Jackie Milburn and Bobby Mitchell  made hay in the Wembley sunshine with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Manchester City. Ever since then though Newcastle have laboured through the decades like hod carriers on a building site.

In 1976 Newcastle once again came a cropper in a Cup Final against the same opposition in the League Cup Final at Wembley. Denis Tueart's remarkable bicycle kick took much of the stuffing out of Newcastle and City deservedly won all the plaudits. No change there then. Newcastle have won the old Fairs Cup and a couple of other wholly insignificant pre season Cups but generally the Tyneside famine is still waiting for the long overdue feast.

Then two years before, the moping and melancholy Joe Harvey could only watch in stunned amazement as Bill Shankly's mesmerising Liverpool sliced open the black and white shirts like the proverbial tin of sardines. In the 1974 FA Cup Final Newcastle were overpowered and completely outclassed by the dynamic Kevin Keegan and the educated feet of Steve Heighway. Newcastle must have felt like alienated strangers at some private party so convincing was the margin of the 3-0 victory.

Yet yesterday evening the 2020 edition of this year's FA Cup brought with it the hope of something much better. It is hard to know with Newcastle because most of their demanding supporters keep dreading the worst case scenario so victory over Oxford United in the fourth round of the FA Cup would have lifted their spirits no end. There is still a gallows humour at the Gallowgate end and the Geordies are both naturally restless and understandably cynical about everything that happens to their club.

Mega wealthy owner Mike Ashley still looks like one of those businessman who ply their trade out of the back of a suitcase. Some have called him a shifty and scheming operator while others at the club simply want to see the back of him. For years now Ashley has spent most of his life in a directors box grinning endlessly at nothing in particular. Some would say that there is a palpable air of the deceitful spiv about Ashley who, when he isn't selling Newcastle down the river, is selling cheap DVDs in the local market.

For a while though last night Ashley sat in the directors box content and possibly delighted with life because finally Newcastle had banished the blues and besides it was about time Newcastle finally won something. This seemed to be the case as Newcastle showed all the polish and streetwise Premier League experience that looked as though it had been enough to brush aside lower league opposition like dust on a carpet.

Last autumn of course Oxford had won their first of their personal conquests over Premier League side West Ham when the now relegation threatened Hammers were demolished by Oxford in a 4-0 stroll in the park at the Kassam Stadium. The late and much loved Jim Smith though was probably looking down with a broad smile of satisfaction at Oxford's latest Cup heroics. Smith, along with a whole host of other clubs, once presided over Oxford like a proud father and Newcastle, another one of Smith's port of calls, scored a winning goal in extra time after both Oxford and Newcastle could not find any daylight between them.

For most of the first half though Newcastle seemed to be coasting into the fifth round of the FA Cup, a side of symmetrical patterns and mathematical angles, quick, short and precise passes to each other, stretching their League two opponents from one side of the pitch to the other. Newcastle were quicker of thought and deed than Oxford, moving the ball around the pitch with an efficiency, skill and adroitness that simply left the home side in a state of complete perplexity.

When Sean Longstaff gave Newcastle the lead after a swift break across and around the yellow shirted Oxford, it seemed that the home side would be in for a long and punishing ordeal. Joe Linton laid the ball off neatly to Longstaff who turned his man beautifully before drilling the ball home. With the likes of Sean Longstaff, Nabil Bentaleb, Matt Ritchie and the dangerous Miguel Almiron running forcefully behind the Oxford defence, Newcastle surged forward like a black and white tidal wave. Almiron was leaving a trail of havoc behind him with teasing and taunting runs behind the Oxford back four. while Matt Ritchie led a full blooded cavalry charge for the visitors.

Before Oxford could so much as come up for air, Newcastle, penning the yellow shirts firmly into their own half, kept pressing and pressing. clustering and clustering, prompting and probing before swarming around and picking off the university city as if they were Newcastle's intellectual inferiors. It wasn't long before Newcastle increased the lead.

The young whippersnapper Sean Longstaff who had undone Oxford all evening, was once again the man for the occasion. Subtly threading a handsome through ball to Joe Linton, the Brazilian simply raced through to fire the ball powerfully into the net for Newcastle's second goal. Now it was that Oxford looked as though they'd suffered for much longer than they might have thought they would. Their attacks began to look stodgier, slower and more ponderous. There was though a crispness and sharpness about their passing but the game looked up for them.

But in the second half everything changed quite astoundingly. The Kassam Stadium, sensing Tyneside vulnerability, broke forward harmoniously and began to think that their club was about to embark on a miraculous revival. Oxford went for Newcastle like a pack of hungry wolves with Mark Sykes nagging away at Newcastle defenders with hurtling and careering runs that caught them completely by surprise.

Now it was that Josh Ruffels began to burrow his way forward with all of the confidence he could muster on a night such as this. FA Cup nights can often transform the careers of lower league players who can only fantasise about an FA Cup Final in May. Ruffels had captured the mood of the evening with some of the most quick witted touches on the ball. Both Alex Gorrin and Cameron Brannagan were also indulging their flights of fancy with elaborate step overs and drag backs that one Johan Cruyff would have been proud of.

The man of the match though for Oxford was the West Ham loanee Nathan Holland, a player of pace, trickery and skulduggery, shifting the ball from one foot to the other in a blur of bewildering speed. Holland's impeccable close control might have rescued Oxford at a much earlier point in the game. But suddenly Jamie Mackie finally came to life for the home side up front and after a series of half chances Oxford appeared to have scored a consolation goal.

Liam Kelly, a spritely and fresh pair of legs for Oxford, jogged on as a substitute for Oxford boss Karl Robinson. With the game slowly ebbing away for the home side, Kelly prepared for a free kick on the edge of the penalty area. Kelly stepped forward, took aim, spotted a gap in the Newcastle wall and blasted the ball into the back of the Newcastle net. Delirium fell over Oxford. It felt as though the whole city had won both the Pools and the National Lottery. Oh joy of joys.

Then with literally seconds left in a tremendously intriguing FA Cup fourth round tie, Oxford saw gold embossed, back page newspaper headlines in front of their eyes. A long free kick was tantalisingly floated into the Newcastle box, a brief scramble of legs appeared before Nathan Holland, sizing up the ball perfectly, sent the meatiest volley high into the net for a rip roaring equaliser. The FA Cup had indeed done it again. We'd never doubted it for a minute.

Sadly though this would not be Oxford's night. It may be that Oxford will have to wait for the traditional Boat Race in the spring for any crumbs of comfort. Mid way through extra time the formidable flair of Frenchman Allan Saint Maximin, complete with gold headband, saw him dribbling magnificently, swaying, shimmying and dropping his shoulder, before cutting the ball onto his right, scoring feet and driving the ball thrillingly past the Oxford keeper for a sensational Newcastle winner. The FA Cup hey! It's a timeless classic, an epic tale of derring do. It simply never disappoints.