FA Cup 3rd round preview – Stevenage v Newcastle.

Giuliano Grazioli equalises for Stevenage back in 1998.
Newcastle kick off their FA Cup campaign against Stevenage Borough tomorrow evening, and they will surely be hoping that events run a lot more smoothly than they did the last time these two sides met way back in 1998.

Back then, Newcastle had been flying high for a few seasons in the Premier League and had superstars such as Alan Shearer within their ranks. It took two matches and the intervention of Shearer for The Magpies to progress past a plucky non-league Stevenage outfit, although the lasting memory of the encounter will be the off-field arguments between the two clubs.

Most of the trouble centred around the Stevenage ground. Newcastle officials claimed that Broadhall Way, or The Lamex Stadium as it is currently known, was unsafe to hold the larger than normal crowd that was anticipated on the day, and this was before our officials even visted the ground. Much mud was thrown and Newcastle were made to look like the bullies after attempting to get the game switched to St James’ Park.

Stevenage won out on that occasion and the game went ahead as planned with the addition of a temporary stand. The events around that day lacked class from all parties. Stevenage weren’t innocent in the whole affair and their chairman at the time acted like a bit of a ******, but we hardly covered ourselves in glory either. If you want to cast your minds back to that match you can do so by watching this video.

Fast forward 13 years and we find ourselves in the position of having the exact same fixture, although this time the build up to the game has been an all together quieter affair with matters centred around team news rather than horrer stories about the two clubs bickering.

Speaking of team news, Alan Pardew will have to make do and mend as he takes an injury plagued Newcastle side to Broadhall Way. The visitors will be without several first team players for the game, with several more likely to not be risked in preparation for the Wear-Tyne derby match next weekend.

Midweek hat-trick hero Leon Best is struggling with a heel injury whilst Steven Taylor and Cheik Tiote are both struggling with hamstring strains. All three of those injuries were picked in the 5-0 victory over West Ham.

Andy Carroll, Sol Campbell, Alan Smith, Ryan Taylor and Hatem Ben Arfa are all definately ruled out through injury whilst Steve Harper will miss the match on comapssionate grounds due to his wife being heavily pregnant. The one bit of good news is that Dan Gosling could feature at some point for Newcastle.

I expect that we will play a mixture of youth and fringe players, although any sudden recovery to any senior players could well see them involved aswell. For what it’s worth I would go with a team looking something like this;

Newcastle: Tim Krul, James Perch, Mike Williamson, Tamas Kadar, Shane Ferguson, Wayne Routledge, Danny Guthrie, Kevin Nolan, Xisco, Nile Ranger, Peter Lovenkrands.

Stevenage will be missing Darius Charles for the match tomorrow as he serves the last game of a three match ban. Byron Harrison will be unavailable for The Boro as he is cup tied after already playing for Carshalton in an earlier round.

Joe Byrom, Darren Murphy and Lee Boylan will hope to be in contention after shaking off recent injuries, although manager Graham Westley could name an unchanged team from the one that beat Barnet on Monday.

Stevenage: Chris Day, Scott Laird, Luke Foster, Mark Roberts, Lawrie Wilson, Stacy Long, John Mousinho, Michael Bostwick, Charlie Griffin, Rob Sinclair, Chris Beardsley, Rob Sinclair.

The last time these two sides met in the cup it took two games to seperate them, as you may have seen if you watched the video earlier up in the article, but by the end of the cup run Newcastle found themselves in the final.

Hopefully the omens will be similar this time around.

Howay the lads!

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

180 thoughts on “FA Cup 3rd round preview – Stevenage v Newcastle.

  1. My team would be-

    ——————-Krul—————–
    Perch—Willo—Campbell—-Kadar
    —————–Smith—————–
    Routledge—Guthrie—–Ferguson
    ————Best—-Lovenkrands—-

    If Best fails fitness test then Xisco or Airey. I would like to see Gosling on for Guthrie in second half. No need to score loads of goals or anything, just keep it tight and let Ferguson/ Routledge run at them.

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  2. Is Smith injured?

    I would play that Irish lad from the reserves whos name I cannot spell. Wouldn’t risk Tiote no chance.

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  3. Aye DJG he’s injured apparently but i’m not actually sure what happened 🙂 Yeah tiote shouldn’t be anywhere near the team, might just have to play without that type of holding midfielder, or maybe push nolan back? He can put a tackle in if needed. Only problem is he’ll never make it into the box with his pace if thats where he’s plonked 😀

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  4. Nolan used to be a box-to-box midfielder for Bolton, until one season about 3-4 years ago he put weight on and just started hovering around the final third. 🙂

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  5. Everyone gone back to bed? 🙂

    Think today could be a little tricky , i think we will go through , but i think the stevenage players will be up for and their fans will be surely up for it the revenge the 98 games

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  6. I think a bit of a mixture is needed hitman , the likes of Krul Kadar Guthrie Smith Best could all do with game time , but certainly the likes of Ferguson should get a run out and a few starts wouldnt hurt , not sure if id risk a gosling run out depending on how the pitch is and how the game is panning out

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  7. Heard the rumour about Carroll falling off a seat in a casino, drunk at 5am, the day just before his injury was announced?

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  8. aye 30 jagers between 15 people, 2 each!
    Nee story man, he’s been carrying an injury since Man City, garbage!

    Oh and aye, Lee Ryder reckons Vukic has signed a 5 year contract, good stuff if true!

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  9. Vuckic has indeed signed until 2016. It’s on the official website f anyone wants to have a ganders

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  10. Great news about Vuckic! Only seen him a few times but thought he done well esp last time out against Arsenal is the carling cup , a few nice touches , is he injured at the moment?

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  11. Just read the story in the paper and it says twice he got the injury before he went to the casino, so really the headline is
    “22 year old gets pissed and falls over”

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  12. Signoing Vuckic on a five year contract is obviously good news but I wouldn’t mind seeing what all the fuss is about him?

    He cannot be that good as no manager has ever gave him a chance!

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  13. He has shown glimpses, but as he is a central player there really is no need to rush his development. Especially with his injury record.

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  14. We really should be satisfied with just the Ben Arfa deal, and all the contractual renewals. I just don’t think we are in a position to attract players to improve our team in this window.

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  15. Stu, he’s 18! WTF do you want from him like?

    Got a family member who is a coach there at nufc, and has been for years, and he reckons Vukic is easily the best tallent, for his age, they’ve had through.

    Not blistering pace, not tricky, just everything about his all round game is ‘class’

    He’ll be coming through soon he reckons

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  16. A 22 year old ( with probally too much money in his back pocket ) gets drunk and falls over? Its a disgrace! Lets hang him him from London bridge as a warning to all the other 22 year olds out there 🙂

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  17. I Love Mike
    Posted January 8, 2011 at 10:24 AM

    I’m not expecting anything, ILM. I just always hear people saying how good he is. Well he cannot be that good because he hasn’t played, not even when we were in the Fizzy.

    If you’re good enough, you’re old enough, no?

    I’m sure hje’s going to be a good player, but I wish people would stop building him up so much.

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  18. Vuckic will be a top player but not for a while yet. He is a typical central attacking midfielder with good control and a good playmaker who can link up the play. Like VDV at Spurs. Im glad we should see Kadar today though, he is the one that is most ready for the first team IMO. Even more than Ranger and Fergie. It’s just that in Collo and Enrique we have two defensive rocks at the back/

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  19. DJG – Collo isn’t just a great defender he does it with a swagger, style and skill that make him a joy to watch.

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  20. Stardust
    Posted January 8, 2011 at 10:43 AM

    Can be a bit lightweight at times though. Although there’s no denying when he’s on it, he’s on it.

    God only knows what’s going to happen when it comes to renewing the likes of his and Bartons Contracts. I can see us losing them for a relatively small fee. Unless of course they’ll take a hefty pay cut.

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  21. Stardust- He is the typical south american skillful all round player. He can play at RB or DM aswell but we need him at the heart of our defense and although he needs a big bruiser next to him, despite the stick he sometimes gets I think we would be a lot poorer a team without him. Im hoping Kadar is gonna learn from him.

    What is it about these south americans, even their defenders are more skillful than some of our midfielders and strikers. 🙁

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  22. Stu – thatll be the biggest statement they can make.

    In the past we have paid ridiculous money to players for just turning up. They weren’t earning their pay, always “injured”, lived on one or two moments of glory from a lifetime.

    Whereas Barton, Collo, Enrique etc are playing for the shirt, putting 100 percent into every moment of every game.

    We have to keep ahold of those players – they are fundamental to our progress and success. Hopefully the board see it that way too.

    Their mentality is tough to replace

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  23. Like everybody else, I hope we get those three lads tied down on contracts sooner rather than later.

    What’s the score with Williamson?

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  24. Stuart79
    Posted January 8, 2011 at 10:47 AM
    “God only knows what’s going to happen when it comes to renewing the likes of his and Bartons Contracts. I can see us losing them for a relatively small fee. Unless of course they’ll take a hefty pay cut.”

    Yeah totally agree, if they were a few years younger, I don’t think there would be any hesitation in giving them a new contract each. But when their contracts end, they will be getting on a bit, will the club think it will be time to move on and get younger players?

    Could the club give them a rolling yearly contract based on performances, same wage conditions?

    Personally, I don’t think there’s any doubt they are both performing to an international level, I would give them an extra couple of year each if they continue to perform to this level, always need that mix of experience and youth.

    But who knows what will happen in the future

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  25. Kenny is taking over until the end of the season.

    The national media absolutley crucified Ashley and the supporters for ‘dreaming’ when KK was reappointed. Wonder if they do the same with the Scousers?

    Dalglish has been out of the game for ten years, why do they think he’ll be the saviour?

    In my opinion Dalglish was a very lucky manager. He inherited a great Liverpool team in the 80’s, bought the title at Blackburn and then took a good side apart up here before failing miserably.

    Hope he takes them down!

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  26. thank’s for that charming answer , batty , and the next time i’m feeling like a piece of shyte and on the bottom i’ll just take a quick glance at some of your posts and thinks to myself….hey life’s not that bad after all , there’s plenty worse off than myself.

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  27. i wonder if doglesh has told barnes and rush to get their boots cleaned up ready to replace gerard and torres

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  28. Richard Bow
    Posted January 8, 2011 at 11:23 AM
    thank’s for that charming answer , batty , and the next time i’m feeling like a piece of shyte and on the bottom i’ll just take a quick glance at some of your posts and thinks to myself….hey life’s not that bad after all , there’s plenty worse off than myself.<<<<< who ever you are my life is fine and dandy ,sick off ***** stalkers like you so fck you u halfwitted c@nt ok

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  29. well batty dickie bow is your new stalker mate ? Shame he didnt use his own name mate then you could have took him serious

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  30. oh for gooness sake ! i’m just new here and a fellow newcastle fan , is this the warm gordie welcome we are famous for ?.doesn’t look like it to me , getting ridiculed for my name last night and again today , why ? who are you anyway , the complete local idot that everyone takes under their wing out of pitty.

    it’s quite clear i’m not welcome , so i’ll leave with a bitter taste in my mouth.

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  31. Hate Dogleash. Could weep when I think of what he did to dismantle KK’s side and replace them with Barnes, Rush etc absolute disgrace. As someone else mentioned, be interested to see how the media react to this saying how long the miserable fart has been out of the game. Bet the scousers don’t get the reaction we did with KK.

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  32. oh happy days just got to my hotel and see Toon v Stevenage on live – 1.30am in the morning so better set me alarm clark in case i nod off before then. Is it on live in UK?

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