Since England International Nick Pope dislocated his shoulder in December (will be out until March at least), Newcastle had a terrible run of the results, in which they conceded a lot of goals. Last year’s best defense is porous in 2024 and Pope’s absence is seen as the main reason. Nobody wants to say it directly, but it means that Martin Dubravka, the number 1 keeper until Eddie Howe was appointed coach is not such a good replacement. The occasional blunders from Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn and Sven Botman were not so criticized, and yet the Slovakian keeper (again) saved Newcastle United from another embarrassing defeat with a string of saves and then two penalties in a shootout which lead to the win in the fifth round of the FA Cup: Blackburn – Newcastle 1-1 (4-3 on penalties).Journalists and pundits are full of analysis how the Magpies are crippled without Pope who can play with his legs etc. etc., but Dubravka has been great all this time, just as he was before the Saudi takeover, when he was by far the best Newcastle player, who saved his club from relegation with great performances. And tonight his teammates were yet again pale, looked insecure and under pressure since the win was a must, but Dubravka stayed calm and just defended his goal in the best possible manner. The only goal he received during the regular 90 minutes was a product of captain Jamal Lascelles’ mistake and in the extra-time he had more saves, before stopping two shots in the penalty shootout, and all that just days after being ill (he missed the Arsenal game for it).“The two penalty saves were huge for us but in open play I thought he really performed well and we needed him to because they had a few big moments. He’s been playing feeling slightly ill and he deserves huge credit for doing that. He was nowhere near fit for the weekend against Arsenal and hasn’t been 100 per cent for quite a long period of time” said Howe after the match.Magpies had their chances (and good ones), but Blackburn keeper Aynsley Pears was also good, and saved them all. Since it was a must win, Newcastle players got nervous and the home team created chances of their own. Luckily for them, they had Dubravka in the team. It would be an embarrassment to lose against a side which had only one victory in their last 13 second-league matches. But Gordon’s goal was not enough, since just minutes after, Blackburn equalized and had another great chance in injury time. But, the game went to overtime and eventually penalty shootout and Dubravka saved them once more.FA CUP – ROUND 5Tuesday Bournemouth – Leicester 0-1 (0-0) AET/Fatawu 106/Blackburn – Newcastle 1-1 (0-0) Penalties 3-4/Szmodics 79 – Gordon 71/Luton – Man.City 2-6 (1-3)/Clark 45, 52 – Haaland 3, 18, 40, 55, 58, Kovacic 72/Wednesday 22.30: (1.58) Chelsea (4.00) Leeds (5.90)22.45: (2.65) Wolverhampton (3.25) Brighton (2.75)22.45: (3.25) Nott.Forest (3.45) Man.Utd. (2.20)23.00: (1.60) Liverpool (4.10) Southampton (5.50)***odds are subject to change
