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Jonathan Wilson was at St Andrew’s for us. I’ll leave you with his match report. Goodnight!
Full time: Birmingham 2-3 Newcastle
Newcastle are through to the fifth round after an intense, extraordinarily eventful FA Cup tie. The superb Joe Willock decided it in the 82nd minute with his second goal of the game, but the match will probably be remembered for Tomoki Iwata’s spectacular equaliser on the stroke of half-time.
90+14 min: Newcastle substitution In the 104th minute of normal time, William Osula is replaced by Alexander Isak.
90+12 min Osula goes down after a clash of heads with Klarer. He’ll need treatment; Klarer seems okay.
90+12 min Schar tries to score from the halfway line but doesn’t get enough on it. Who does he think he is, Jamie Donley?
90+11 min A free-kick on the halfway line allows Birmingham to send everyone forward. Peacock-Farrell takes, Hanley heads on and Pope comes out to collect.
90+9 min Birmingham are still scrapping for everything but they haven’t been as dangerous going forward in the second half as the first. Even so, it’s been a brilliant game.
90+7 min At the other end, Osula spanks over the bar from 20 yards. He’s been quieter since moving to centre forward.
90+6 min May cuts inside from the left but mistimes a tame shot that is easily saved by Pope. In the circumstances, Newcastle have managed this second half really well.
90+3 min Few cup ties are quite as eventful as this. We’ve had five goals – one after 41 seconds, another an absolute screamer – plus injuries, controversy, great saves, aggro, William Osula clearing his own shot off the line. I’ve probably forgotten something as well.
90+1 min There will be 12 minutes of added time.
90 min: Off the line by Davies! Murphy is put through on goal, miscontrols the ball but has time to recover and go round Peacock-Farrell. The angle is tight and his shot is cleared off the line by the covering Davies. Terrific defending.
88 min Livramento’s sharp low cross is met on the run by Tonali, whose beautifully struck shot is superbly blocked by Hanley.
85 min: Big save by Pope! Dowell’s corner from the right hits somebody at the far post and ricochets towards goal. Pope, instinctively realising he doesn’t have time to get down and save it with his hands, reacts superbly to boot it off the line with his right foot.
84 min: Birmingham substitution Grant Hanley replces Tomoki Iwata, whose goal will live long in the memory.
Willock has had an outstanding game and he read the play beautifully there. The move started with Willock, who played a square pass just outside the area to Livramento and keep running. Livramento pushed it into the area towards Longstaff, who managed to drag it back towards the near post. Willock was first on the scene to rattle a first-time shot past Peacock-Farrell.
GOAL! Birmingham 2-3 Newcastle (Willock 82)
Joe Willock’s second goal has put Newcastle ahead!
81 min Miley goes past two players on the edge of the area but Cochrane does well to force him wide and the eventual cross is straight at Peacock-Farrell.
80 min There will probably be at least 10 minutes of added time, so we’re not as close to the final whistle as it seems.
78 min Targett’s cross is missed at the far post by a defender, which leads to a game of pinball in the Birmingham area. Livramento had half a chance but mishit his shot.
77 min: Triple substitution for Birmingham Lyndon Dykes, Krystian Bielik and Alfie May replace Keshi Anderson, Jay Stansfield and Scott Wright.
75 min Willumsson is booked. I think Davies might have got away with his reducer on Osula.
74 min Willock gets away from Willumsson, who tries to trip him and ends up studding him in the ankle. Willock goes down and will need treatment.
73 min Osula is cleaned out from behind by Davies. The referee plays a good advantage but will surely go back to book Davies.
72 min Murphy’s shot on the turn from 15 yards is comfortably saved by Peacock-Farrell.
71 min Klarer is booked for a very cynical foul on Willock. The second half has been increasingly fractious.
70 min Longstaff dawdles in the area and is robbed by Anderson, who then goes over. Birmingham go up for a penalty but I don’t think there was much contact.
68 min Now Willock is booked for a high challenge on Laird; it looked clumsy rather than malicious. But it means yet another stoppage. The ball has barely been in play in the last 15 minutes.
66 min Stansfield is booked for dragging Schar over the touchline and into the advertising boards. Schar was trying to usher the ball out of play and was sent flying. He stays down for 30 seconds or so, then gets to his feet and immediately starts pointing angrily at Stansfield. This game, as Guy Mowbray says on the BBC, has had everything.
65 min Leonard was down for six or seven minutes so theer will be plenty of added time.
63 min: Birmingham substitution Leonard is stretchered off to be replaced by the Iceland international Willum Þór Willumson.
61 min Leonard is being slowly moved onto a stretcher. A few of his teammates are there with him; the others are running around in an attempt to keep warm.
60 min A stretcher has been brought on for Leonard, who is being given oxygen as well. I think it’s a (potentially deep) wound rather than a break, but either way it’s not good.
57 min Leonard slides in on Miley and is caught painfully on the knee by Miley’s studs. There’s a break in play while he receives treatment.
55 min: Double substitution from Newcastle Dan Burn has pulled something and is limping off to be replaced by Fabian Schar. Jacob Murphy comes on for Callum Wilson, which means Osula will move to centre forward.
54 min Birmingham are having a really good spell. After some nice passing on the left, Leonard’s deep cross is fractionally too strong for Laird.
52 min A reminder that, if necessary, the match will go to extra-time and penalties.
50 min Anderson goes flying after a collision with Osula, another demonstration of his strength. Dowell clips a terrific free-kick into the corridor of uncertainty; nobody in a blue shirt is able to get there.
48 min Newcastle have started the second half on the front foot. Osula runs at Cochrane and hits a cross that takes a big deflection before spinning out of play on the far side. He looks a very interesting player, Osula – tall, powerful but also highly skilful. And he’s only 21.
46 min Peep peep!
Half-time substitution Eddie Howe has brought on Sandro Tonali for Bruno Guimaraes.
“If Ethan Laird hadn’t ducked, his head would have been taken clean off by Iwata’s shot,” says Andy Flintoff. “Although, being a bit cheeky, he’s directly in line between Iwata and Pope and standing offside, so would VAR have had the nerve to disallow it?”
“Seeing as how Willock and Wilson have scored for the opposition,” begins Peter Oh, “I reckon the Birmingham manager has no choice but to throw Willum Willumsson into the fray. “
Iwata’s goal is getting better every time you see it. Nick Pope may have got a slight touch as he leapt to his left but he had no chance of saving it.
The assistant referee wasn’t perfectly in line when he awarded Joe Willock’s goal. Even now, after 10 or more replays, I’m not sure either way.
Half-time reading
Half time: Birmingham 2-2 Newcastle
A pulsating first half at St Andrew’s. Ethan Laird scored after 41 seconds to spark an end-to-end thriller. The excellent Joe Willock equalised, though there was some doubt as to whether the ball crossed the line, and Callum Wilson reacted smartly to put Newcastle ahead.
Then, after missed chances at both ends, Tomoki Iwata scored an absolute screamer to make it 2-2. More, please!
45+4 min In fact it was sparked by a pretty bad foul on Osula on Stansfield, who then started laughing as Osula went after him.
45+3 min An incident involving Osula leads to a shoving match on the touchline. We didn’t see exactly what happened but Osula and Anderson have been booked.
45 min Three minutes of added time. Any chance of three hours?
44 min Iwata’s goal has echoes of Ronnie Radford against Newcastle in 1972. Radford was much further out, but the way the ball sat up and the purity of the strike were pretty similar.
42 min I hope they have the technology to measure the speed at which Iwata’s shot was travelling. It was a belter.
