Newcastle United advanced to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Millwall at The Den in what surely was a frustrating night for the most part, only for Joe Willock’s 81st-minute finish to finally break the deadlock and give the Magpies the pass.
Matthias Jaissle’s side controlled long stretches of the game, as expected, but there wasn’t much to call home proud about on the offensive side. That said, another clean sheet and a late breakthrough were enough to continue
Newcastle’s unbeaten start going under the new head coach.
Newcastle began on the front foot, with Jacob Murphy firing over before Willock forced debutant goalkeeper Filip Marschall into a save after 15 minutes. Sven Botman then headed Murphy’s corner narrowly over, while Fabian Schar went close when his long-range effort took a heavy deflection and struck the side netting.
Millwall gradually grew into the contest and threatened through set pieces. Lyndon Dykes saw an effort gathered by Lukas Hornicek before Caleb Taylor headed narrowly wide from Camiel Neghli’s free kick. Newcastle reached halftime having dominated possession and attempts, but its finishing repeatedly let the team down over and over again.
Still-unfit Tino Livramento replaced Amar Dedic at halftime — the latter supposedly suffering some sort of injury — but Millwall started the second period with greater purpose than the Magpies.
Jenson Metcalfe drove narrowly over from distance, while Jake Cooper headed another set piece wide. Harvey Barnes eventually registered Newcastle’s second shot on target after 65 minutes, although his effort was easily handled by Marschall.
Jaissle responded by introducing Anthony Elanga and Matias Fernandez-Pardo, yet the breakthrough remained elusive. Instead, Newcastle nearly fell behind in the 79th minute when substitute Tairyk Arconte escaped Livramento and fired against the near post, with Hornicek fortunate to see the rebound stay out.
Two minutes later, however, Newcastle punished that miss. Fernandez-Pardo slipped a clever pass toward Lewis Hall, whose low delivery across the six-yard box found Willock.
The midfielder improvised a neat flicked finish beyond Marschall for his second goal of the season and gave Newcastle the advantage it had struggled to manufacture.
With that, Willock moved into a tie for second in goals scored for NUFC across all competitions this season with two, only trailing three-goal-man Barnes.
Jaissle praised his team’s patience afterward.
“We’re really happy. Job done,” Jaissle said. “It’s never going to be easy here at Millwall in a cup match.
“We matched the physical challenge quite well and made a step in the right direction compared to the first half against Bournemouth.”
Newcastle’s result extends Jaissle’s encouraging opening run in charge as the Magpies’ attention now turns to league play, with NUFC getting ready for Leeds come Monday.
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