Football Betting: Hughton selection policy marks new FA Cup low

Championship / Frank Gregan / 27 January 2010 / Leave a Comment

"The FA Cup sanked to new lows when a club that has not won a major honour since the days of rationing, and doesn't even ply its trade in the top flight, treated the competition with contempt."

Chris Hughton has done a good job at Newcastle this season but Saturday's defeat at West Brom was a terrible waste of a great chance to progress in the FA Cup, says Frank Gregan.

The two league meetings between Newcastle and West Brom this season had been close affairs. A 1-1 draw on the opening day of the campaign at the Hawthorns was followed by a 2-2 draw at St James Park last Monday. The FA Cup fourth round tie at the weekend was set up nicely, one of those 'too close to call' matches. But The Geordie faithful were starting to dare to dream, two of the Big Four were already out and having last won the FA Cup 55 years ago they could be forgiven for thinking that this might be their year.

The anticipation on the drive down to the Midlands would have been intense. Pragmatism and stoicism to the fore, a sense of que sera but the butterflies at the base of the stomach a reminder of the prize up for grabs - a place in the last 16 - three games away from Wembley.

A pie and a pint on the way to the ground and an alcohol induced sense of bravado rises to the surface, game on, bring it on - this is the year! Cue the stadium announcer and the reading of the team sheets. Roberto Di Matteo elects to field an unchanged side, Chris Hughton makes five changes to the Newcastle line-up from the side that played at home in the league five days earlier. A classic example of a manager 'peeing on the fan's parade', Hughton sticks a six inch nail in his supporter's balloon of optimism!

Seventy-five minutes later the Toon are 4-1 down, reduced to 10 men and consigned to another season without a major honour. The last 15 minutes of the contest must have been fun to watch, the optimists among the Newcastle fans would have been talking about a swift return to the Premier League with the 'happy clappy' brigade extolling the virtues of 'concentrating on the league!'

It's accepted that Premier League football next year is the priority but Newcastle have won the division that they are currently competing in during relatively recent times, 1993 to be exact. That title, along with the Intertoto Cup in 2006 and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1967 hardly gives a Geordie bragging rights.

A glorious opportunity to progress to the last 16 of the FA Cup, a very special competition, was missed at the weekend. Of course there is no guarantee that a full strength Newcastle side would have prevailed but that is what makes it even more annoying, we'll never know! Chris Hughton bemoaned the referee's performance but if it's bad decisions that he wants to debate, how about the worst decision of the day? His team selection!

The decline of the FA Cup has been bemoaned on this blog before. It reached new lows at the weekend when a club that has not won a major honour since the days of rationing, and doesn't even ply its trade in the top flight, treated the competition with contempt. Pitiful!

Newcastle travel to Leicester on Saturday and given that they have drawn their last three league games their price, [2.62] looks very skinny so I'm looking elsewhere in the division for this week's recommendation.

Cardiff scored six in midweek at Bristol City and the men from Ashton Gate must be low on confidence. They travel to the Riverside to take on a Middlesbrough side that won 4-1 at Doncaster in the week. 'Boro are currently available to back at [1.95] and that along with a small wager on any other score in the correct score market at [13] is this week's recommendations.