Steve Bruce reacts to THAT chant from Newcastle United fans

Bruce’s side were backed by more than 3,000 supporters at Spotland, where Rochdale came from behind and drew 1-1 to earn an third-round replay at St James’s Park.

Miguel Almiron opened the scoring with a 17th-minute strike, but the League One club equalised through a late goal from 40-year-old striker Aaron Wilbraham, who came off the bench.

United were left to rue a series of first-half chances, three of which fell to £40million striker Joelinton.

And there was a chant of “we’re f****** s****” from the sold-out away section during the second half.

Asked about the chant, Bruce said: “I never heard that – I was concentrating. I understand their frustration. They expect us to go to Rochdale and win. We’re still in the hat. We’ve had 25 minutes out of Matt Ritchie – and we played fantastically well in the first half.

“We lost the two players (to injury). I’m not going to make excuses, but after that we played people constantly out of position, and it was a difficult afternoon in the end.

“It was a lack of bodies in the right areas to keep dominating the game.”

Bruce lost Almiron and Yoshinori Muto to injury during the second half. United’s head coach said: “When we lost our two influential ones, in particular Almiron, then things changed and they made a cup tie out of it.”