Soccer
Joe Willock grabs late goal as Newcastle edge past Millwall
Joe Willock’s late goal sent a relieved Newcastle into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup as the Premier League side scraped to a 1-0 victory at Sky Bet Championship outfit Millwall.
Just before going ahead, the Magpies had been given a fright when a shot from Tairyk Arconte hit a post, with the hosts at that point threatening to upset the competition’s winners of two seasons ago.
The Lions brought on 15-year-old midfielder Regan Anderson, who became Millwall’s second youngest player, in the time that remained, but Newcastle held firm in what was a hard-fought tie.
Jacob Murphy bent a shot harmlessly over in the early exchanges in what was the first meeting between the two teams since 1993.
The first time Millwall’s debutant goalkeeper Filip Marschall was called into action was in the 15th minute when he parried Willock’s strike into the air, with the ball dropping to left-back Elkan Baggott rather than the lurking Yoane Wissa.
The visitors dominated the early proceedings and came close again when Sven Botman headed Murphy’s corner narrowly over at the far post.
A rare foray out of their own half by the hosts led to their first half-chance as Lyndon Dykes’ hooked effort from Baggott’s cross was gathered easily by Lukas Hornicek.
The Lions were providing a threat from set-pieces, with a good delivery from a free-kick by Camiel Neghli being met by a flying header from Caleb Taylor that went just wide.
Newcastle then almost had a stroke of luck at the other end as Fabian Schar’s long-range effort took a big deflection and ruffled the side-netting, with Marschall stranded.
It remained deadlocked at the break and Millwall began the second half brightly with Jenson Metcalfe smashing a long-range effort just over within two minutes of the restart.
A Metcalfe free-kick then led to another warning for the away side as a header from Lions captain Jake Cooper drifted wide.
The Magpies had struggled to impose themselves since half-time, although Harvey Barnes had just their second shot on target after 65 minutes when his tame effort was easily saved by Marschall.
Newcastle boss Matthias Jaissle sent on Anthony Elanga and deadline day signing Matias Fernandez-Pardo in an effort finally force a breakthrough, but the Millwall centre-back pairing of Cooper and Caleb Taylor were repelling everything coming their way.
Millwall substitute Arconte was the closest to opening the scoring in the 79th minute when he got away from Tino Livramento before his shot came back off the near post.
Having survived that scare, the visitors snatched victory with nine minutes left when Lewis Hall’s ball across the six-yard box was flicked in by Willock.
