Birmingham City 'spirited' in FA Cup defeat to Newcastle United

National World - LocalTV

BirminghamWorld reporter Charlie Haffenden reacts to Birmingham City's 3-2 defeat to Newcastle United in the FA Cup fourth round.

Transcript

00:00Birmingham City are out of the Emirates FA Cup at the fourth round stage

00:04following tonight's 3-2 defeat to Newcastle United but it was a spirited

00:08performance from Chris Davies' side, really impressive to be honest obviously in

00:12League One, leading League One expected to get to the championship but an English

00:16third tier club nonetheless up against Newcastle who are challenging for the

00:20Champions League spots in the Premier League and you'd expect a massive golfing

00:23quality on the field but that was definitely not the case and Birmingham

00:27actually took the lead within just 60 seconds, Ethan Laird scoring on the

00:31volley, it was deflected off Callum Wilson but a decent finish nonetheless

00:35it was a decent corner routine from Birmingham and Chris Davies was

00:39mentioning in the post-match press conference how he was so happy with that

00:42because Newcastle have only conceded one goal from a corner all season so for

00:47Blues to be the second is so impressive for his players and he's happy that

00:50they'll be able to take that home from tonight regardless. Newcastle they did

00:54bounce back eventually, they were stunned initially, two goals in that first half

00:59first one coming from Joe Willock and then the second one from Callum Wilson

01:05in quite quick succession. The first one controversial really, Bailey Peacock

01:10Farrell the Birmingham goalkeeper in the cup competitions thought he'd made a

01:14save on the line and that originally was kind of what the whole support were

01:18cheering for but then the linesman on the far side about 10 seconds after the

01:24save flagged to the centre circle for a goal, he said that the ball had crossed the

01:29line. I'm not sure quite how he saw that through such a crowd of bodies when he

01:33wasn't even in line with the goal but he made a decision anyway and Newcastle got

01:37their equaliser. Callum Wilson scoring shortly afterwards, Peacock Farrell

01:41failing to clear after a low cross from the right-hand side from Livramento, a

01:45failed punch from the Birmingham goalkeeper costing Blues but a decent finish from

01:50Wilson nonetheless. At half-time you're thinking all right well this is kind of

01:53going into Newcastle's favour now but Blues came out probably the better side

01:57at the start of the second half. There was a long injury intervention from Mark

02:02Lennon who unfortunately went off after a stud just below the knee. He had to be

02:07stretched off, big delay. The Birmingham managed to get a goal back, an absolute

02:10stunner from Tomoki Iwata and one of the goals of the season you'd probably say.

02:15Newcastle failing to deal with a cross from the left-hand side and Iwata firing on

02:20the half-volley. So much power, an absolute rocket into that top right-hand

02:24corner. Eddie Howe praised Iwata for the goal after the game. Chris Davies said it

02:29was one of the best goals he's ever seen in the flesh, both as a manager or in person as a fan.

02:35Absolutely incredible goal that one. Unfortunately though towards the end of

02:39the game Newcastle they pushed on. They probably had a little bit more energy.

02:42Blues exerted themselves so much trying to stay in the game against top-0

02:46competition and then right at the end Joe Willett gets a second goal poking

02:50through the legs of Bailey Peacock-Farrell. There was lots of added

02:53time. Alfie May had two opportunities potentially to score but Birmingham couldn't

02:58find a way back into it and they are knocked out of the competition but so

03:01much to be proud of as I say and Eddie Howe with his comments. He was very happy

03:05of what he saw from Birmingham, full of praise and Chris Davies as I say very

03:09proud of his players and thinks the players should be proud of what they saw

03:13here tonight. So it is a defeat but I think this shows where Birmingham are.

03:17They're definitely not a League One standard team. I think we knew that

03:20anyway but potentially top of the championship kind of standard the way

03:23they're playing tonight. Very, very impressive indeed and plenty of

03:26positives to take heading into the next few games.

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