'Nowhere near' - Newcastle United fitness admission revealed as vital call made

Martin Dubravka was Newcastle United's hero as they progressed through to the FA Cup quarter-final with a penalty shootout win at Blackburn Rovers.

The 35-year-old made several saves during the match which finished 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra-time before saving two penalties in the shootout as Newcastle progressed as 4-3 winners at Ewood Park. But Dubravka was touch and go to make the game after he missed Saturday's 4-1 defeat at Arsenal due to illness.

And when asked if Dubravka was close to missing the FA Cup fifth-round clash, Howe told The Gazette: "Yeah it was [touch and go], it wasn't clear.

"He was nowhere near fit for the weekend against Arsenal so he hasn't been 100% for quite a long period of time and has been playing slightly ill and he deserves huge credit for doing that."

On Dubravka's performance, Howe added: "The two penalty saves were huge for us. In open play, he really performed well today and we needed him to because they had a few big moments.

"I thought the best save he probably made was in the build-up to their goal which I thought was a magnificent save to tip it onto the bar but unfortunately he scored the rebound.  

"That was probably the most disappointing thing on the night because we worked so hard to lead but to let them back into the game was a kick at that time.

"I don't think the first half was particularly good, the second half was better and extra-time was our best spell of the game by a long way and we shouldn't have allowed it to go to penalties with the chances we had."