Newcastle United suffer late heartbreak as Arsenal secure FA Youth Cup win at St James’s Park

Ahead of the game on a bitterly cold night at St James’s Park, Under-18’s head coach Graeme Carrick wanted his side to manage the pressure of a cup tie and ‘express themselves against Jack Wilshere’s side. Carrick said: “One of the unique challenges the Youth Cup brings is a little bit more pressure and prestige and, with that, the biggest thing for me is seeing them be and express themselves, meeting their challenges head on.”

The young Magpies took a while to get themselves into the game and could easily have found themselves behind when Amario Cozier-Duberry shot wide in the opening stages. The winger missed another glorious opportunity minutes later as the hosts rode their luck.

However, Arsenal did make their early dominance pay on the quarter hour mark with Seb Ferdinand poking home an effort after initially seeing Aidan Harris deny him from close range. Their lead didn't last long though as Lewis Miley restored parity with a wonderfully well taken goal.

Miley pounced on some slack defending, rolled his man before driving into the area and tucking a delicious curled effort past Noah Cooper. After bagging a brace against the Gunners in September, that strike took the 16-year-old to three goals in all competitions against Arsenal this season.

The game eventually fell into a natural rhythm with the visitors controlling possession but rarely testing Harris in the Magpies goal, save for an effort from Omari Benjamin that elicited a smart stop low down from the keeper. Newcastle’s best chance following their opener fell to Ben Parkinson who latched onto a pass from Miley, but saw his effort saved well by Cooper.

It took a while, but Newcastle started to live up to their head coach’s expectations and enjoyed a good end to the first-half, one that would come crashing down when their visitors retook the lead against the run of play however. Once again it was Cozier-Duberry in the thick of the action as he twisted and turned and fired a deflected effort past Harris.

The second period started with Arsenal on top with Jimi Gower firing an effort wide of the post - but they were made to pay for that miss when Parkinson levelled the game once again just moments later. Newcastle’s skipper was presented with the easiest of chances after some superb work from Johnny Emerson down the left.

Arsenal could, and possibly should have taken the lead for a third time when Gower’s free header flashed wide of the post. The Gunners continued to pile on the pressure but were unable to break the hosts’ resistance.

Their pressure finally did pay off though when Osman Kamara struck at the death. Good work from the Gunners saw the ball pulled back to Kamara who gave Harris absolutely no chance. Arsenal will face Watford in the next round.

Newcastle United team: Aidan Harris, Lucas Cooper (Thomas Bryant), Beau Beresford (Shaun Mavididi), Scott Bailey, Ciaran Thompson, Rory Powell, Darren Palmer, Dylan Charlton, Ben Parkinson, Lewis Miley, Johnny Emerson

Unused substitutes: Carter Milmore, Adam Harrison, Luke Craggs, Logan Watts, Sean Neave