Fulham 0-2 Newcastle

Two set-piece goals saw Fulham defeated 2-0 by Newcastle United in the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday night.

Sean Longstaff crashed in the opener before half-time after a short corner fell kindly for him.

The Whites responded well in the second half, but the tie was put out of reach when Dan Burn smashed home a loose ball after Marek Rodák had done brilliantly to keep out a Sven Botman header from Kieran Tripper’s corner.

Issa Diop, Antonee Robinson, Andreas Pereira and Bobby De Cordova-Reid were the only survivors from the midweek heartbreak in the Carabao Cup, with a first appearance for Tim Ream in eight weeks one of seven changes made by Marco Silva.

Three of the men brought in combined inside three minutes to fashion the first opening, with Harry Wilson’s flick and Harrison Reed’s incisive pass teeing up Rodrigo Muniz, who fired over.

A mix-up at the other end then saw Jacob Murphy gifted a one-on-one chance, but he shot straight at Rodák.

The same trio who had created Fulham’s first opportunity made our second, with Muniz this time trying to guide his effort inside the far post, and he would have been successful were it not for a fine save from Martin Dubravka.

Muniz was proving a lively customer, showing good strength to hold the ball up in the box before spinning and squeezing a shot through Botman’s legs, which deflected marginally wide.

The Whites were having the better of things, but it was the visitors who broke the deadlock when Longstaff lashed into the corner after the ball fell his way following a corner. There were frustrations amongst the Fulham boys, though, as Longstaff was only in a position to shoot after the ball span his way via Bruno Guimaraes’ arm.

After Murphy saw a goal disallowed for offside, Wilson had to be withdrawn after failing to recover from a late challenge by Burn – a real shame as he’d been a dangerous threat down our right flank.

In first half stoppage time, Andreas dribbled half the length of the pitch before trying his luck from the edge of the box, but dragged his left footer wide of the far post.

Willian had been brought on for Wilson and had the ball in the net less than three minutes into the second half with a stunning strike, but the flag had already gone up against De Cordova-Reid in the build-up.

It hadn’t been the busiest evening for Rodák, but he needed to show good handling to claim Alexander Isak’s stinging strike as we approached the hour mark, while Fulham went close at the other end as Kenny Tete whistled one over.

The crucial second goal went the way of the Magpies. It was harsh on Rodák who had made a fine stop to keep out Botman’s header from Trippier’s corner, with Burn gobbling up the rebound.

Raúl Jiménez had been sent on as Silva opted for two up top, and it almost paid quick dividends when he beat Botman to Tete’s looping cross, nodding agonisingly over the bar.

Fulham had seen more possession and created more shooting chances throughout the 90 minutes – with Raúl and Tom Cairney each sending efforts wide in stoppage time – but the lack of a cutting edge meant our FA Cup campaign was ended at the Fourth Round stage.