Newcastle progress to FA Cup fifth round at Fulham's expense
Jacob Murphy was offered a gift by a mix-up between Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Antonee Robinson just five minutes into his first appearance since early November, but any rust sustained over that time was on display as he wastefully fired straight at Marek Rodak.
Fellow Slovakian goalkeeper Martin Dubravka was then forced into a far tougher save at the other end, getting his fingertips onto a Rodrigo Muniz effort that had seemed destined to trickle into the bottom corner.
Fulham took the ascendancy as the first half progressed, with Harry Wilson finding promising positions and playing some lovely passes, but that didn’t translate into opportunities to further test Dúbravka, with Muniz’s effort being deflected wide by Sven Botman.
The Cottagers then suffered two blows before the break, as they failed to convincingly deal with Dan Burn’s knockdown and a clean hit from Sean Longstaff left Rodak with no chance.
That was followed by Wilson eventually being forced off, having attempted to play through a shoulder injury.
The hosts’ struggles to find a route into the game continued, despite them being the main aggressors against a disjointed Newcastle side.
And their hopes were then dented irreversibly on the hour mark, when Burn reacted quickest after Botman’s header was saved to smash the ball home.
With Marco Silva’s side searching for a way back into contention, Raul Jimenez rose well to meet Kenny Tete’s looping cross but couldn’t keep his header down and Antonee Robinson fizzed his shot into the side netting.
Their efforts proved futile, as Newcastle comfortably saw out the win and progressed past the FA Cup fourth round for just the second time in 18 seasons, maintaining the Magpies’ hopes of lifting silverware this term.
Fulham, meanwhile, will reflect bitterly on being knocked out of two competitions in under a week, with the Thameside outfit having now passed this round of the FA Cup just once in the last seven campaigns.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Sean Longstaff (Newcastle United)