Nolberto Solano has earned himself a lot of friends in the Newcastle United dressing-room since his arrival from Peru two and a half years ago. Much of this has to do with Solano's trumpet playing before matches. He was entitled to be blowing it again last night after supplying the 79th minute goal that keeps Newcastle in the FA Cup and their season alive. It was his third goal in four games.
Had he not done so Bobby Robson would have been staring at a long winter and spring. As it is, Robson must take his patchwork team to Villa Park on Wednesday week for the right to host Leicester City in the next round. Whoever wins the replay will not enter that fixture without concerns. Solano and Keiron Dyer will both miss the replay but Wayne Quinn has arrived on loan from Sheffield United and may well play.
Aston Villa should have the upper hand therefore, but then they had it yesterday and did not win, so nothing should be taken for granted. Steve Stone's 53rdminute opener should have been the signal for Villa to push on, but there is a strange lack of certainty about John Gregory's players. Individually this is a fine side yet only Paul Merson seems to have the nous to make them gel. Much too much diffidence.
Gregory was relatively content afterwards - though he did not appear confident that the Juan Pablo Angel deal could be resurrected - and praised Stone in particular. Stone will have appreciated that. A Geordie, Stone first came to St James' Park as a nine year-old to watch Kevin Keegan and Chris Waddle. Oh, that either of them were playing yesterday.
"A typically hard Premiership game of football, albeit in a cup-tie," was Robson's assessment. "You couldn't say one team was better than the other." That was about right. These teams were the last three beaten finalists and a cynic watching a game that stuttered from the off might have observed that both deserved to lose again.
Villa had marginally the better of a patchy first half in terms of possession and in Merson had the one player seemingly capable of rising above the mediocrity. Unfortunately Merson's many intelligent runs from midfield went unrecognised as such by his colleagues, and on those occasions when they did see him sprinting clear, the accuracy of their distribution was less than total.
With David Ginola effectively neutralised by the aggressive attention of Andy Griffin - for which Griffin received a deserved booking in the 25th minute - a lot of Villa moves broke down three-quarters of the way through. Only once in the first half, after 10 minutes, was Steve Harper tested - the Newcastle goalkeeper did well to parry a Dion Dublin diving header from a Merson centre.
At the other end David James was equally inactive, though mainly because of the reluctance of Newcastle's forwards to shoot when given the chance. When Shola Ameobi was presented with the opportunity to do so in the 20th minute he stepped over the ball and, two minutes later, Keiron Dyer had only James to beat from 10 yards but chose to double back and try and beat his marker again.
Newcastle frustration at that wastefulness was then heightened shortly after the interval. Gregory's policy of playing Gareth Barry in midfield as opposed to the left of a back three had not been a conspicuous success but when he collected a short pass from Ginola and advanced on the left, Barry was in more familiar territory. From there he whipped in a curving ball behind the Newcastle defence and Stone met it first-time on the run. Harper was helpless.
That description pretty much fitted the home side at that stage as well. With no Alan Shearer, Rob Lee or Carl Cort, they lost Gary Speed after 28 minutes. But Robson has engendered some spirit within this club. After Ameobi struck the foot of James's right post following a beautiful pass from Dyer, Newcastle could have wilted but they kept on keeping on and found their reward when Solano volleyed in the equaliser once his original free-kick had been cleared.
The match opened up a little then but Dublin squandered a free header four minutes from the end and James then tipped another Solano effort over in injury time. They must do it all again. Don't hold your breath.
Newcastle: Harper, Barton (Glass 66), Goma, Hughes, Griffin, Acuna, Bassedas, Speed (Cordone 29), Solano, Dyer, Ameobi (Lua-Lua 66). Subs Not Used: Given, Marcelino. Booked: Griffin. Goals: Solano 80.
Aston Villa: James, Wright, Barry, Staunton, Southgate, Samuel, Stone, Ginola (Vassell 76), Boateng, Merson, Dublin. Subs Not Used: Enckelman, McGrath, Melaugh, Hitzlsperger. Booked: Wright. Goals: Stone 55.
Referee: P Durkin (Dorset).
