West Brom 4 Newcastle 2

We are into the last 16 of the FA Cup after what turned out to be a pretty comfortable, and possibly significant win over The Magpies.

With one eye on Tuesday's game at Ipswich Roberto Di Matteo named an unchanged side from the one that started against Newcastle six days ago. He got this spot on and we applaud his aim for consistency; this is the way to build confidence and get results. Newcastle's boss Chris Hughton tried the Benitez method, and his plan to make five changes backfired impressively.

Albion's fluidity was clear from the start and we took a deserved lead when Olsson headed in unmarked from a Brunt corner.

Newcastle tried their physical spoiling game again but this time the referee was having none of it. Two penalties were awarded and converted by Graham Dorrans, and Newcastle suffered further punishment when Ryan Taylor was sent off for a challenge on Jerome Thomas.

Andy Carroll pulled one back for the visitors in between the penalties but then Thomas got on the score-sheet with a nicely taken tap in. Carroll's consolation second goal in injury time probably gave the scoreline just about the right balance.

On the subject of the penalty decisions WBA coach Eddie Newton said:

'If you are on the losing side, people might start staying 'referee this and referee that'. The referee has a hard job, it is easy to look back and say 'he should have done this or that'. He has got to make split-second decisions and he's seen it as he has seen it - it has gone for us and not for them. It happens.'

The Forest game fades into the distance and Albion finally get the better of the Magpie nemesis. This could be the start of a string of results that gets us back into the automatics, where we belong.



West Brom

Carson, Olsson, Cech, Tamas, Jara, Koren, Brunt (Zuiverloon 67), Thomas (Mattock 77), Dorrans, Mulumbu, Bednar (Miller 77)

Substitutes

Kiely, Mattock, Zuiverloon, Martis, Teixeira, Miller, Cox

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