West Brom 4, Newcastle United 2

Jan 25 2010 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

NEWCASTLE United were swept out of the FA Cup on a tidal wave of injustice at the Hawthorns.

After plumbing new depths with one of their worst halves of the season in the first period, resilient United rallied superbly in the second only to have their progress checked by referee James Linington.

This season – more than most – too many charlatans have used the perceived failings of match officials to mask their own inadequacies when in truth refereeing standards have stayed roughly the same.

The mild-mannered Chris Hughton is not one of those charlatans, however, so when he moves to upbraid a referee as forcefully as he did Linington, you begin to suspect something is up.

Unquestionably this game turned on two defining calls from the Isle of Wight official either side of the 70-minute mark.

That was the point at which United, ominously tightening their grip on an entertaining match, were denied what appeared a clear penalty.

Second-half substitute Shola Ameobi – a replacement for the hopeless Fabrice Pancrate – was bearing down on the hosts’ goal when he was squeezed into submission by the converging attention of West Brom’s bulky centre-backs Gabriel Tamas and Jonas Olsson.

With Ameobi lying prone it looked a straightforward decision for Linington, but he was stoically unmoved, and after the ball was swept the length of the field the very next passage of play was to decide the destination of a riveting Cup tie.