ST ANDREW’S — As this breathless FA Cup tie reached its conclusion, the steaming breath of every player was becoming more noticeable in the cold Birmingham air.
William Osula, in particular, was billowing, the Newcastle 21-year-old having produced a tireless display that included a miss-of-the-season contender, two assists and seemingly a confrontation every 15 minutes – mostly after he was the subject of a heavy Birmingham tackle.
The Dane was not afraid to give it back to his opponents, nor was he too shy to berate his own teammates, thus defying his position within the squad with an attitude that could take him far.
He is Eddie Howe’s latest project player, having signed from Sheffield United last summer, and after nine appearances off the bench in the Premier League, he must be knocking on the door for a first start.
“He was an outlet for us,” Howe said. “His place, strength and directness was key for us in the first half. He’s still got some areas that need development, but he was unlucky not to score.
“He’s a versatile player. Anything that showcases his pace, that’s his best asset, I think he’s got goals in him too.
“There’s a few rough edges we need to keep working and developing. He’s very close to playing [more] with the squad size we have. He’s got a great attitude in training.”
Osula had clocked 243 minutes this season prior to the match at Birmingham, with just 44 combined from his nine league displays off the bench.
He has therefore been a useful cup player for Howe, making three Carabao Cup appearances – although he was left among the subs against Arsenal – and scoring his first Newcastle goal in the FA Cup win over Bromley last month.
At home to Bromley Osula played 69 minutes, in what was his second start, while at Birmingham on Saturday night he all-but lasted the full 90 – coming off in the 104th minute (yes, there were 15 minutes of added time) to essentially clock the most minutes of any game this campaign.
Add to that the four minutes added on in the first half and Newcastle fans were essentially treated to almost two hours of Osula: witnessing the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good inspired Newcastle’s initial comeback, with Osula’s cross leading to their controversial equaliser when Joe Willock’s strike was deemed to have crossed over the line by the linesman.
In the absence of goal line technology – a blot on this tie as was the lack of VAR for Manchester United’s offside winner on Friday night – it was what Newcastle needed to weather what had been an early Birmingham storm.
Osula then should have put Newcastle ahead, but here came the ugly, albeit comical too given his shot from practically zero yards out came off his other shin and accidentally teed up Callum Wilson, who poked the ball home when beating goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell to the ball.
This made for two Osula assists, and while the bad was a yellow card in first-half injury time, this came when the Dane showed another one of his unfazed qualities – a willingness to get stuck in, push opponents around, and ultimately disrupt the flow after Tomoki Iwata’s stunning FA Cup all-timer had drawn Birmingham level.
That goal gave this tie a proper cup feel, a sprinkle of magic amid frantic play, questionable decisions and tackles with extra bite.
A lower-league team in form hosting a Premier League side is arguably the ideal starter for an FA Cup classic, and though many will grumble about the lack of replays, the realisation that this match would have an outcome by 9pm only added to the fevered atmosphere inside this stadium.
In this case, it felt fitting, a match that was rising in intensity was going to have a winner either way, and it was an ideal match for Osula to cut his teeth in too.
In the end, having gone up front when Jacob Murphy came on, Osula watched on from closeby when Willock tucked in the winner.
But Osula continued to be a bother, almost securing a third assist only for Sandro Tonali’s effort to be blocked, before firing over himself in injury time.
He was also visibly gutted, thumping the floor when Murphy opted to go it alone instead of squaring it, only for Ben Davies to clear that goal-bound effort.
It showed how much Osula wanted a goal to cap off his display, while his performance ended with a shrewd piece of forward play, earning a foul in the 12th minute of added time before hobbling off two minutes later.
This killed time and took the sting out of Birmingham, with Newcastle grinding out the win to advance. They’re off to Wembley once, what they’d give to make it twice, while in Osula, they have a player who has the ingredients to become a fan favourite – and Howe must surely be relishing this task.
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/d3Lbply
Post a Comment
EmoticonClick to see the code!
To insert emoticon you must added at least one space before the code.