Adam Smith’s second-half own goal has sent Newcastle through to the fifth round of the Carabao Cup at the expense of Premier League rivals Bournemouth.
The Cherries skipper’s 67th-minute misfortune was enough to secure a 1-0 victory for the Magpies at St James’ Park and increase hope that they can finally end a domestic trophy drought dating back to 1955.
If the win was deserved – the Magpies dominated much of the 90 minutes in front of an expectant crowd of 51,579 – it proved hard-fought with keeper Nick Pope having to save from substitute Jack Stacey and Dominic Solanke to preserve his clean sheet and ensure a seventh successive win.
Howe made a significant statement when he named all five of his returning World Cup stars – Pope, Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Bruno Guimaraes and Callum Wilson – in his starting line-up.
Trippier curled a 13th-minute free-kick over after Lewis Cook had hauled back Joelinton, and Sean Longstaff fired well off target after intercepting Adam Smith’s loose pass seconds later.
Pope had to be alert to collect Kieffer Moore’s knock-down ahead of Ryan Christie as the visitors responded, but opposite number Mark Travers was relieved to see Schar’s 20th-minute piledriver fly just wide of his right post with no chance of getting to it.
Howe and assistant Jason Tindall were camped in the technical area repeatedly encouraging their side to move the ball quicker with Bournemouth sitting deep, and they thought they had gone ahead with 26 minutes gone when Wilson poked a shot past Travers, only to be greeted by a delayed offside flag.
The England frontman headed a driven Trippier cross over and then cleared the crossbar with a well-struck 35th-minute volley with Newcastle redoubling their efforts, but Travers comfortably fielded Guimaraes’ effort from distance six minutes before the break.
Miguel Almiron should have opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time, but he miskicked as he met Dan Burn’s cross beyond the far post, and the home side were grateful that a slick stoppage-time link-up between Jaidon Anthony, Jordan Zemura and Solanke ultimately came to nothing.
The Magpies lacked the required precision in the early stages of the second half with Schar failing to connect with an inviting Trippier free-kick in front of goal, and they were handed a 57th-minute warning when Moore sent a diving header wide from Smith’s cross.
With Anthony and Zemura increasingly influential as Bournemouth put together a…
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