Newcastle reached the Fifth Round of the FA Cup for a third successive season on Saturday evening, defeating both Premier League rivals and the match officials at Villa Park.

Aston Villa's decision to make this 90’s night prompted old school tunes and lasers, but referee Chris Kavanagh evoked memories from the decade before that, as he channelled his inner Trelford Mills.

The now-deceased Barnsley whistler ensured infamy amongst Newcastle fans of a certain vintage by disallowing two legitimate goals as United lost 0-1 at home to Brighton back in January 1983.

There may have been other challengers to that crown since - Brian Coddington, Uriah Rennie, Andy D’Urso and Keith Stroud all come to mind - but Kavanagh’s display here rolled back the years. 

The lack of VAR in this round of the FA Cup saw the referee (and myopic flagwaver Nick Greenhalgh take centre stage in what was described as a throwback game, but became exhibit A in the case for introducing off-field checks. Buffoonery of this magnitude prompted the clamour for technology.

Eddie Howe's side felt rightly aggrieved by a quartet of dubious calls in addition to the clear and obvious decision to red-card Villa 'keeper Marco Bizot in the final seconds of the first period. Even Kavanagh managed not to miss Bizot's bulldozer, which crucially altered the course of this tie.

The green-clad Magpies made six changes from the side victorious at Spurs: Pope, Botman, Willock, Gordon, Elanga and Guimaraes out; Ramsdale, Hall, Woltemade, Osula, Murphy and Tonali in.

The first contentious decision came after Villa's 14th minute opener, Tammy Abraham collecting a Douglas Luiz free kick chipped over the Newcastle wall in the box and firing in.

The only doubt appeared to be whether two or three home players including the goalscorer were offside, but the flag remained down and the goal was given.

United's sense of injustice steadily grew during a first half that saw fouls on Lewis Hall and Harvey Barnes in the box waved away and a studs-up challenge by Digne on Murphy that VAR would have surely upgraded from yellow to red.

Even the hapless Kavanagh couldn't avoid reaching into his correct pocket however, after Bizot came way out of his box to intercept a United attack and denied a goalscoring opportunity by felling Murphy - although given the latter's lack of form, an equaliser certainly wasn't guaranteed.

United hadn't established themselves when both sides had 11 players on the field; Osula leading the line ineffectively with Woltemade playing deeper and none of the visiting players calling the unreliable Bizot into serious action.

A further glaring error from the officials began the sequence of events that led to United's 63rd minute leveller; a clear handball by Digne in his own box incredibly punished by a free kick outside rather than the penalty and second yellow that would surely have followed any remote review.  

That free-kick led to Sandro Tonali's shot deflecting off Luiz and flying past replacement goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, TV replays highlighting the position of Dan Burn and speculating that the semi-automatic offside system may well have wiped out the goal for that reason had it been used here.

Substitute Anthony Gordon then fired just wide as United sought to press home their numerical advantage, before Tonali's sweetly-struck second began to empty sizeable sections of the home stands. Sob on the Holte!

Without a club goal to his name in nine months, the Italian midfielder took just 13 minutes to double his tally with an unstoppable 25 yarder - a timely contribution given the loss of Bruno Guimaraes to injury and a pertinent reminder of the benefits of having a shot. One clean hit and one deflected effort both counted equally, but far too often this season we've not chanced our arm. or feet.

Late Villa pressure led to several corners before Newcastle broke away to hit a third; Anthony Elanga galloping upfield, Joe Willock pinching the ball in the box and birthday boy Woltemade netting despite the efforts of Pau Torres to deny him. The home defender happily got his own come-uppance after having earlier wrestled Dan Burn to the ground in a headlock as a corner kick was taken.

With Yoane Wissa absent due to injury, Woltemade's scoring return was timely: his manager referred to him as a midfielder post-match, but the German saw more of the ball than in recent weeks as the hosts allowed him space and time. Crucially, he also found his way into the opposition box more as the tie wore on, where every one of his 10 Newcastle goals have come from. 

Victory extended United's relentless midweek/weekend schedule further; success against Qarabag in the Champions League playoff confirming this season as our busiest in the top flight since 1968/69.

That didn't make any difference to those on or off the field at full time though, with the celebrations continuing loud and long into the night. Next stop, Baku.

Biffa