Joe Ironside gatecrashed Kieran Trippier’s party as League One Cambridge dumped Premier League Newcastle out of the FA Cup at St James’ Park.
The England full-back was handed a Magpies debut in the third-round tie a day after completing his move from Atletico Madrid, but celebrations over his arrival turned sour as Cambridge heaped further misery on Eddie Howe’s relegation-threatened side.
Ironside made the most of some less than effective defending to score the game’s only goal with 56 minutes gone and Newcastle, who had earlier seen Fabian Schar and Jacob Murphy strikes correctly ruled out for offside, were unable to muster an effective response in front of a bumper crowd of 51,395.
THE MAGIC OF THE CUP! 🤩#CamUTD | ⚫️ 0-1 🟡 pic.twitter.com/gosp6GZ7j7
— Cambridge United FC (@CambridgeUtdFC) January 8, 2022
For the visitors, who sit in 16th place in the third tier, it proved to be a famous afternoon as they booked a place in the fourth round in fairytale fashion with keeper Dimitar Mitov producing a string of fine saves, one of them a stunning effort to keep out Joelinton’s injury-time header.
Trippier made his presence felt vocally as well as on the ball as a promising start by the Premier League side fell victim to a series of errors, and the Magpies were fortunate not to be made to pay for a lack of concentration which allowed visiting full-back George Williams a free header from a 16th-minute short corner.
Allan Saint-Maximin, who had earlier dragged an attempt wide, was unable to hit the target after meeting Murphy’s cross at full-stretch two minutes later, and he just failed to get on the end of Joelinton stabbed 21st-minute pass with the home side finally starting to find a rhythm.
![Kieran Trippier](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/ae7d9556d75930cd08d8c032045494e6Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjQxNzQ4Njc2/2.64641927.jpg?w=640)
Mitov did well to turn away Murphy’s curling effort from Saint-Maximin’s intelligent pass, but fielded Joelinton’s header from a Ryan Fraser corner with some comfort.
The Magpies, playing for the first time in 12 days, were dominating possession, but wasting much of it with a series of aimless crosses which caused the visitors’ defence few problems.
However, Mitov did have to save from Saint-Maximin and Murphy in quick succession either side of a correctly-disallowed Schar strike.
![Cambridge goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/7356a440e8e144f71694beb371b16245Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjQxNzQ4ODE3/2.64641420.jpg?w=640)
In the meantime, last man Matt Ritchie had been given the benefit of the doubt by both referee Michael Salisbury and VAR official Peter Bankes after an untidy challenge on Harvey Knibbs.
Mitov then had to excel himself on the stroke of half-time to divert Murphy’s rasping drive on to the crossbar, and was grateful to see Joelinton steer Trippier’s corner straight into his waiting arms two minutes after the restart.
Murphy’s accomplished 51st-minute finish counted for nothing after an offside flag ruined his celebrations, and Trippier could not beat the defensive wall with a free-kick four minutes later as the Magpies’ frustration grew.
The drama. 🎭The hero? 🦸♂️
Joe Ironside puts @CambridgeUtdFC ahead!#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/iLGt46Fbac
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 8, 2022
The mood inside St James’ Park took a turn for the worse when first Martin Dubravka and then Fabian Schar failed to deal with a ball into the box and Cambridge forward Ironside pounced to put the visitors ahead.
Newcastle’s response was concerted, but disjointed as extensive possession failed to yield meaningful opportunities, although Cambridge needed a superb Mitov save from Joelinton’s late header to seal an unlikely win.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here