Blues 2-3 Newcastle: Illness, Joy, Returns & So Much More To Come

Blues gave Premier League Newcastle United an almighty scare in the FA Cup thanks to Ethan Laird & Tomoki Iwata goals. Here's how my day went.

It's Saturday morning and I feel like crap.

A cold has caught up to me. My voice is beginning to crackle. Coughing up whatever phlegm I haven’t already snorted out. And I can’t blame a heavy Friday night – I don’t drink. It’s just that time of year isn’t it (when isn’t it).

Normally, it is what it is. I’m ill. I’ll recover when I do. I’ll take some paracetamol if I feel really bad. But not today. I made sure I had an early night. I’ve drunk nothing but either tea, water or boiling water with honey and lemon. Paracetamol every four hours. Eating well. I’m not missing this one.

And so when the call comes in at quarter past four, I’m ready. Phone. Wallet. Keys. Tissue. Cough sweets. Four layers. Hat. Hopefully the adrenaline will fix the rest.

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Sometimes, you just know heading towards the ground what kind of game it will be. The traffic wasn’t quite as bad as I anticipated but there was an immediate buzz as soon as me, my brother and stepdad began to walk down Cattell Road. It felt different. Fans singing on route to the ground and the queues were huge, but packed with fans having a sing-song as big groups of friends and family came together waiting for others to figure out the ticket tech.

Match programme purchased – I'm traditional and like to collect them (especially given I’ve gone to fewer games in recent seasons) and love that we still do paper versions unlike many other clubs these days – and into the ground to find a light show and Jaykae performing.

I’ll be honest, it’s not my cup of tea. And the stadium’s sound system doesn’t exactly the help his cause. But there are some excellent backing tracks, it’s unique, people are having a good time and I’m enjoying it as a result. The idea of Curtis Davies and Alan Shearer trying to do punditry with it blaring in the background is also amusing.

As an aside, Jaykae doing a tribute to so many fallen Bluenoses was lovely and I’ve huge respect for that. He truly comes across as one of our own and the club giving him the spotlight, along with the UB40 concert, is hopefully further sign that of the work we are trying to do as a football club to benefit the city and vice versa.

And then began the pre-match with the atmosphere just incredible. Forever True. Feel it. Keep Right On. My voice isn’t lasting here.

The first true rendition of KRO finishes as Jay Stansfield lays the ball back to Bailey Peacock-Farrell. Her humps it forward with Ethan Laird beating his man in the air and Kieran Dowell wins a corner. Another call to arms. Dowell delivers to Keshi Anderson who nods the ball back across goal and OH MY FUCKING GOD WE’RE WINNING! The place has gone absolutely nuts again. What a start!

I settled down. Ball on the spot. I turned to the guy on my right and said “all downhill from here”, which got a chuckle.

Normally, I would get my phone out at that point. Jot a note about the goal, the time and ready myself for a report. I decided there and then I wasn’t doing it. For the first time in a while, I didn’t want to report on the game. I just wanted to live every moment and enjoy the occasion.

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It’s almost two but Nick Pope produces a great save to deny Anderson and we’re soon punished for not being ruthless.

Should we have been? I don’t know. Somebody, I think Joe Willock, shoots on target and Peacock-Farrell saves before the rebound is blazed over. We laugh at the rebound attempt and think nothing of it. Then Newcastle players begin to congregate and it looks as if they’re congratulating each other. What’s going on? Have they given a goal? What for? There’s just a lot of confusion in the stands around me. Defenders are confused on the pitch.

It begins to sink in that a goal has been given and the anger starts. The linesman receives pelters. Anderson and Stansfield have a pop. The referee tries to communicate with players to explain the situation. Anderson was certainly having none of it. I can see people texting others around me asking for information. One guy says it was a goal. One says it’s inconclusive. In our Blues group chat, one lad is high up in the Kop and reckons it crossed the line but there others watching on tele stating they can’t tell.

And before we know it, we’re 2-1 down. Fuck.

That one happened in a blur if I’m honest. Anderson switched off for a brief second and Livramento was in. What happened from there I’m unsure but the ball ends up in the net. However, there is more aggro around me. Calls of offside. Calls of a high boot. Maybe we’re just unlucky. Or maybe I’m surrounded by the types you find at every ground who are adamant anything not given in our favour is an absolute disgrace.

I always admire the bias. I tend to call things as fairly as I see them so if a foul is given against us and it looks a foul, I’m happy to say it was a foul. When I sat higher up in the Kop, I used to have a family sit behind me who would call me out for it, the Dad always telling me to get out the ground.

There was a momentary dip in noise as fans vented towards the officials with an ironic cheer given as a possible third was ruled offside. But then the fans responded. The players responded. Anderson has Livramento on toast. Iwata has found his game. Wright and Laird are storming down the right. Stansfield came close with a header. Wright drives through challenges before the referee calls it back and later has a weak effort. I may be remembering some of this in the wrong order to be honest.

The place is rocking again as we break down the left and Leonard crosses to the back post. It’s cleared away anD OH MY FUCKING GOD TOMOKI IWATA!!!! I can’t believe what I’ve seen. Nobody can. The ball has bounced up on the half volley and he’s struck an absolute thunder bastard into the roof of the net. Keep that one out!!

This wasn’t undeserved either. Yes, our opposition were better, bigger and stronger but we were matching them as best we could. We weren’t just sitting on the edge of our box hoping for a break or two but taking the game to them, willing to do the graft, pressing high, playing our football and finding openings.

And if the fans weren’t getting enough, they saw the togetherness of the players show when Osula squared up to Stansfield, who just stepped away laughing at the powerful winger. Then in came Anderson. And Leonard. And Davies. And all of a sudden Osula is surrounded by five Blues players standing together. Love it.

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I spent half-time checking up on my phone. What was the neutral view? After all, you’re in the stadium enjoying things and you wonder what others are seeing.

Turns out, it was everything I felt it was. Neutrals were loving the atmosphere with the BBC commentary mentioning it regularly. Some of the images taken of the stadium were fantastic. There was praise for the performance and just overall feel of the game. And the lads watching it on the tele couldn’t get enough.

The second half was similar in terms of atmosphere. We got in twice with Laird and Wright delivering dangerously but a bit too quickly for Anderson. But the game became a bit stop-start owing to injuries and other moments.

Leonard was forced off after Miley caught his knee following an excellent slide tackle. Schar spent time down and so did Willock later on. When injury time arrived, there were 12 minutes of added on time.

And Newcastle had scored their winner by that point. Again, I don’t really know what happened and haven’t watched anything back as I write this. It looked a decent finish from Willock. I’ll dissect that another time.

We huffed and puffed. I understood the reason for making the changes we did. We’re in the midst of seven consecutive two-game weeks. Stansfield and Wright are only just getting back up to full speed and Anderson has form with injuries so all needing managing having worked their socks off. It did highlight the lack of speed and wingers in our squad and the change of shape may have hindered us, but we’re still early in this journey.

What I did enjoy in the second half was the no-nonsense approach to Newcastle wanting to run all over us. We had to make our mark, however that came. And so Stansfield gets retaliation for the challenge on Iwata in the first half by getting the wrong side of Schar and taking him into the hoardings. Klarer does the same with Willock in a far more brutal challenge. Davies and Willumson make naughty challenges. The Leonard tackle was a good one. Dykes going through Krafth. I’m sure I’ve missed a couple.

We kind of had to do it. We’re not as good as Newcastle. It’s why I wasn’t bothered when Exeter City went for the same approach against us. What are you going to do, just let the good team play their football? No, you’re going to be horrible bastards and do what you can to put them off. We made it horrible for Newcastle, both fans and players, and it almost worked out.

And sure, it didn’t work out for Exeter either, so you could argue I’m talking rubbish. But both underdogs made it difficult and were only undone because the better opposition also showed a willingness to dig in and earn the result.

We are where we are this season not just because we've got good footballers who play pretty triangles but because when a fight needs to be had, we bring it. There's a reason we are comfortably top of the league with the best defensive record and went into this cup game 18 unbeaten.

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Full-time arrives and most fans stay in place. Management and players are applauded and a final rendition of KRO begins. A beautiful ending to a fantastic night. A club that has been so fractured across the last decade is united together as one and few moments have showcased that more.

The money. The ambition. The commercial business. The fireworks. The flames. The straight talking. The arrogance. The positivity. The noise. The belief. It comes from the top and has spread to management, players and fans, all fully on board with this incredible project being played out in front of our eyes. Everybody is unapologetically forthright when it comes to getting what they want and people are returning by the thousands to be a part of it.

And I’m one of those returning fans.

Here’s where I’m honest. My youngest was born in July 2022 and I decided not to renew my season ticket. Now, there were personal reasons for my decision to step away which I’m comfortable with, but when I weighed up spending those hours away from home and my newborn to spend most of my day down the Blues, I chose home life.

I was disillusioned with Lee Bowyer’s time in charge, the stadium was broken, the atmosphere irritable and I found myself going to games alone more and more with few willing to take up a free season ticket beside me. My missus joined me on a few occasions and she don't like football in the slightest. I had stopped going to half of the midweek games. I still loved the club and was watching more games than ever thanks to modern technology, but the bug that comes with wanting to get to every game had gone.

Over the previous couple of years I have been to a couple of away games but nothing more and with matchday prices like they are now, it was going to take a lot for me to head back down. Being the awkward sod that I am, I was going to need a little bit of time to adjust before going back down regularly - to dip my toe back in the water and make sure I'm ready for the full commitment again.

I’m fortunate others a bolder than me and tickets have been sporadically made available this year. The last I had been down to St.Andrews was 7^th May 2022 when Blues lost 2-1 against Blackburn Rovers and I watched from a box (gifted by the club as a way of welcoming my Grandad back to the club following his cardiac arrest) as fans ran onto the pitch at the final whistle to protest against the ownership killing the football club. When I returned, we were hosting Wrexham on a night our football club hadn’t seen for a long, long time.

I confess that a part of me hates that Wrexham was the day a ticket became available. It wasn’t planned and I didn’t push for it – it just so happened somebody was on holiday so the ticket was spare. But I’m so glad it was. I’ve since been to Northampton Town and Rotherham United and now Newcastle and the atmosphere is great, the football team are good and it just gets under your skin.

Does it make me a bad fan? I'll let others make their mind up on that one. I'm in awe of those that go home and away and never miss a game but that isn't in my make up, let alone the financial side of things. I know I'm also not the only person to return recently and I don't think people should be ridiculed. It's exactly what the owners want – to give fairweather or lost fans a reason to return by putting on a show.

It’s half 11 on Sunday evening as I finish writing this piece. I’ve just popped a Strepsil in my gob in an attempt to halt the coughing and spluttering that my partner has somehow slept through, and I’m fuming that I can’t sleep given I’ve got to be in Eastleigh in about 10 hours. I’ll still be there on Tuesday night, watching on in a hotel room desperate for another three points.

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So final reflections and the exciting thing about evenings like Newcastle and Wrexham is that we are only at the beginning of this journey.

I spent the car ride home on Saturday discussing which of this group might play for us in the Premier League (Christoph Klarer tops that list) but the conversation soon turns to what comes to next and nothing brings you back down to reality more than realising you’re hosting bottom of League One Cambridge United.

Saturday showed just how far we’ve come and how far we’ve got to go. As exciting as the performance was, we have to acknowledge that was Newcastle’s second string. And yet, it’s still a Premier League side, similar to Fulham, but when you see the difference in speed, power, technique and decision making, you realise the jumps we are going to have to make. There are guys that are guaranteed starters right now that won’t be in a year or two's time as we ruthlessly push our way towards the top flight.

But those players have important roles to play for now, starting with Tuesday.

This is where all those wonderful traits we speak so highly of get tested. We’ve played five games in the last two weeks – Wrexham and Huddersfield Town away, the comeback win against Rotherham United, a cup quarter final and Premier League Newcastle United. Now you've got to turn it on when the noise has dissipated, the quality of opposition has dropped and the expectation has risen.

I suspect Davies will make a couple of changes to freshen things up, particularly with promotion hopefuls Charlton Athletic, Reading, Leyton Orient (who did superb in their FA Cup game with Manchester City) and Wycombe Wanderers to follow, not to mention the semi-final with Bradford City (well done, Troy). Yet this season has showcased that we can't get away with coasting through games and every point counts. With the schedule as it is, the emotional and physical toll of the last week and Cambridge’s desperation to pick up points, I’ll take three points however they come.

Whatever happens, I put to bed our FA Cup tie with enormous pride in these players, this management team, our ownership and our fans. I’ve fallen in love with my football club all over again.