Newcastle boosted their hopes of ending a 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy when they took a firm grip on their Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal.
The Magpies emerged from their first-leg trip to the Emirates Stadium – where they had won only once in 19 previous visits – with a precious 2-0 lead to take into next month’s return at St James’ Park and their dream of ending a drought, which stretches back to the 1955 FA Cup final, very much alive.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the near-misses the Tyneside club, whose last piece of significant silverware of any description came in the 1969 European Fairs Cup, have suffered during the intervening years.
Nineteen years after their sixth and last FA Cup triumph, the Magpies, who had Malcolm Macdonald spearheading their armoury, headed back to Wembley with high hopes.
Ultimately, they were undone by a man who would later play a significant role on Tyneside as Kevin Keegan scored twice, either side of Steve Heighway’s strike, to send the trophy to Merseyside.
The Magpies’ bid for a first League Cup success ended in disappointment despite Alan Gowling cancelling out Peter Barnes’ early opener.
A minute into the second half, Dennis Tueart dashed their hopes with a spectacular overhead kick after Tommy Booth had headed Willie Donachie’s cross back across goal.
Keegan’s Newcastle were in pole position to claim a first league title since 1927 and a fifth in total when they went 12 points clear of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table in January 1996.
However, they won only seven of their last 15 games as United took 40 points from a possible 45 – three of them from an Eric Cantona-inspired 1-0 win at St James’ on March 4 – to claim the title by four.
A cup run which had stuttered into life with a third-round win at Everton, thanks to Ian Rush and a hard-fought victory over non-league Stevenage in the fourth – a tie which went to a replay as Alan Shearer returned to the starting line-up after a lengthy injury lay-off – eventually resulted in another trip to Wembley for Kenny Dalglish’s men.
However, goals from Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka either side of half-time saw Arsenal complete the Double with the league title already secured.
Having led Chelsea to FA Cup glory in 1997, Ruud Gullit took the Magpies back to headquarters two years later, intent on a repeat.
This time, it was their misfortune to come across a Manchester United side which would ultimately claim an unprecedented Treble after a dramatic Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich in Barcelona four days later, with Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes doing the damage.
Newcastle’s first trip to Wembley in 24 years was delivered by Eddie Howe as his Saudi-backed resurgence promised to pay dividends much sooner than expected.
However, once again they could not reproduce the form which had got them there on the day as Casemiro and Marcus Rashford both struck within six first-half minutes to extend the wait.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
