Newcastle survive siege

FA CUP/Newcastle 1 Tottenham 0: Keeping clean sheets has never been Newcastle United's obsession but at a club that has not won the FA Cup for half a century it is time to break a few habits. Even if the defending became disorderly here and the officials denied Tottenham an equaliser, there was a kernel of stubbornness that enhances the air of promise.

The visitors still feel wronged, and with good reason. The substitute Anthony Gardner was deemed, rather severely, to have climbed on Shola Ameobi to win a header in an incident that ended with Robbie Keane slamming the ball home after 89 minutes, but that episode was just a dress rehearsal for a real miscarriage of justice.

In stoppage time Lee Bowyer blocked a Frederic Kanoute flick with his left arm inside the penalty area yet play was allowed to proceed. While the referee Rob Styles may well have been unsighted by Amdy Faye it was wretched that his assistant, too, was unable to detect any offence.

Newcastle, who had generally depended on their goalkeeper Shay Given, survived those events but they should not forget them. They were at ever-rising risk throughout the second half because they relied on hectic covering around their own 18-yard line. The manager Graeme Souness may put some of the makeshift resistance down to the loss of Titus Bramble - who will need a hernia operation - before the interval.

The recovery period makes him a borderline candidate for the semi-final, which will almost certainly be held on Sunday April 17th, since Newcastle look bound to be playing in the last eight of the Uefa Cup three days earlier. Nonetheless, there was more to Newcastle's growing discomfort here than the absence of Bramble.

It would also be glib to attribute the remainder of it purely to lingering weariness from Thursday's match against Olympiakos in Athens. In the victory over Chelsea in the previous round, after all, Newcastle were also pinned down, even though Jose Mourinho, following Wayne Bridge's broken ankle, had just 10 men on the field with which to outmanoeuvre them.

Souness sends out a more competitive side nowadays but that rigour has come at the expense of fluent passing. They did not hold the ball well, even if their application and good fortune prevented Spurs from doing enough with it. The approach cannot continue to bear fruit if Manchester United or Arsenal are to be confronted in the semi-final.

Faulting Newcastle over such issues is, all the same, another way of taking them seriously. With this result they have now racked up seven consecutive victories for the first time in 10 years. Some of that burgeoning confidence had its bearing on the fashion in which the team immediately imposed itself on Spurs.

Newcastle were in front after five minutes as Patrick Kluivert needed only a few seconds longer to score than he had in the 1-0 win over Chelsea in the previous round. Ledley King was utterly culpable for the goal and nothing that happened afterwards could overshadow his mistake.

Alan Shearer twice came into a move down the Newcastle right and, on the second occasion, the Spurs captain slid in to challenge. It was the sort of full-body tackle whose effects should be irresistible, with the ball landing in the stands. This time, however, the veteran striker broke free and enjoyed controlled possession. Kluivert stroked home the low cut-back.