Newcastle's poor form appears to be becoming chronic after another poor display left them exiting the FA Cup early after goals from Andrea Orlandi and Will Hoskins consigned them to a 2-0 defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion.
Brighton and Hove Albion vs. Newcastle United: Final Score 2-0, Seagulls get deserved win over ten-man Magpies
Goals from Andrea Orlandi and Will Hoskins were enough to give Championship side Brighton and Hove Albion a win over their Premier League opponents as Newcastle’s woes continued.
The Magpies had rested a number of players for the fixture such as Papiss Cisse and Cheik Tiote, bringing in the likes of Sammy Ameobi and Gael Bigirimana as replacements, but they could do no better than their first-choice counterparts as Newcastle struggled for fluency and direction all game. Brighton took full advantage as they made a good start, immediately crafting a couple of half-chances for Craig Mackail-Smith and Dean Hammond.
Newcastle were struggling to get into the game, with their shots restricted to long-range efforts from Gael Bigirimana and Gabriel Obertan, both of which were comfortable saves for Casper Ankergren. On 33 minutes, Brighton managed to put themselves in front after Wayne Bridge's cross found Andrea Orlandi in the area, whose turn and shot beat Rob Elliot in Newcastle's goal to give the Championship side a deserved lead.
After half-time, Alan Pardew made a double substitution in an attempt to give his side a boost, bringing on youngsters Nile Rangers and Paul Dummett, but it made no real difference to the visitors' play. Brighton countered with some more impressive changes of their own, bringing on Will Buckley and former Newcastle winger Kazenga Lualua, both usually first-choice players, into the action.
Newcastle attempted to get a foothold in the game, and were beginning to string moves together in the face of fierce Brighton pressing, but midway through the second half they suffered a huge setback when Shola Ameobi was sent off after picking up a second yellow card for a challenge on David Lopez.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Newcastle continued to make a fight of it, and were not far from equalising when Sammy Ameobi's cross took a deflection off Gordon Greer, forcing Ankergren to make a difficult save. In the end though, it was the hosts who scored the second goal of the game, rounding up an excellent victory as David Lopez released Will Hoskins bursting past the Newcastle backline, and he duly slotted past Rob Elliot to seal progression to the next round.
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