Mark Bonner masterminds stunning FA Cup upset as U’s beat Newcastle United at St James’ Park

At 2pm on Saturday afternoon, nobody thought Cambridge United would stand a chance at beating Newcastle United.

More than 51,000 fans began to fill St James’ Park as the team news was announced. The U’s were threadbare at best. Jack Iredale, a left-back, would continue to fill in at centre-back alongside the inexperienced Jubril Okedina. Ben Worman, a product of Cambridge’s youth system, was forced to step into the starting lineup, with four further academy players named on the bench by Mark Bonner.

In contrast to this, Eddie Howe named the strongest team he possibly could. Kieran Trippier, Newcastle’s first signing since becoming the richest club in the world, was handed his first start after arriving from Spanish champions Atlético Madrid just two days earlier. Allan Saint-Maximin was also deemed fit to start after a devastating display against Manchester United in the Magpies’ last outing in late December.

Everything was set up for a total mismatch. Men against boys. Very few could have predicted what was to follow.

Newcastle, as expected, dominated the early stages. A wild shot from Adam May inside the opening ten minutes was the only sniff Cambridge had at goal. Saint-Maximin would combine with Jacob Murphy to force stunning saves from U’s goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov, while both Murphy and Fabian Schär would find the back of the net before being flagged for offside.

It all felt like a matter of time before the hosts would take the lead on their way to a routine victory, but then one moment changed everything.

Newcastle’s defence misjudged the bounce of a goal kick, allowing Harvey Knibbs to run clean through on goal. Magpies skipper Matt Ritchie pulled his shoulder back, causing the U’s striker to go to ground and demand a penalty.

Ultimately, referee Michael Salisbury decided that there was not enough contact to make such an important call, whilst VAR did not deem the incident to be a clear and obvious error.

But with this moment of promise, Cambridge found that their Premier League opponents were there for the taking.

Bonner’s men, while largely pinned back inside their own half, started to grow after the break. As their defensive resilience continued to improve, so did their attacking threat.

Newcastle’s frustrations continuously built until the home fans reached boiling point, almost an hour had been played and their side had failed to score against League One opposition.

Then came an explosion of noise from the away end. Out of nothing, Cambridge took the lead.

Worman’s defence-splitting pass found Adam May, who suddenly found himself one-on-one with Martin Dúbravka. The Newcastle goalkeeper rushed off his line to palm the ball away, only to be met by an onrushing Knibbs. The U’s attacker robbed him of the ball before firing an effort at goal, which was knocked off the line by the head of Schär.

His lacklustre clearance landed at the feet of Joe Ironside, however, who turned and fired the rebound into an empty net.

For Ironside, this was a milestone moment. The 28-year-old had grown up idolising Newcastle legend Alan Shearer, even visiting St James’ Park as a young child to watch his hero play against Sheffield Wednesday.

Suddenly, he found himself celebrating in front of nearly 5,000 Cambridge fans in the Magpies’ backyard. His arms spread wide open like the famous Angel of the North statue located just over five miles away.

VAR once again intervened to investigate a tight offside call on May in the buildup to the goal. While the Cambridge man was confirmed to be in an offside position, Jonjo Shelvey’s slight touch on Worman’s pass had created a new phase of play, the goal would stand.

The job was far from done, what then ensued was 35 minutes of one-sided bombardment, as Newcastle brought on the likes of Miguel Amirón and Joe Willock in search of an equaliser.

Ironically, they almost ended up conceding another goal, as U’s substitute Jack Lankester fired a shot under Dúbravka and into the net before the flag went up for offside.

For all of the Magpies’ pace, skill and crosses into the box, Cambridge frequently came up with an answer. Perhaps none more defiant than Mitov’s astonishing stoppage-time save to deny Joelinton from a corner. Just 90 seconds later, the whistle was blown and the U’s had beaten the richest team in the world.

What makes the victory even sweeter is that there was no catch. Newcastle did not play a single one of their youth players, only going as far as to name two on their bench. Howe put out his strongest possible team, and they were defeated by League One opposition in front of their own fans.

It further emphasised the Magpies’ need for January signings, with Trippier widely considered to be the only Newcastle player who put in an acceptable performance.

Fans were left outraged that the players failed to acknowledge their support following the defeat, leading to chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and co-owner Amanda Staveley, reportedly flanked by the pair’s bodyguards, paying the dressing room a visit following the humiliating defeat.

Their dismal record for the 2021/22 season remains, with just one win in all competitions.

For Cambridge, this was the crowning moment in what has been an incredible 18-months. In Bonner’s first full season as a manager, his side stormed their way through League Two and won automatic promotion.

The U’s returned to the third tier for the first time in almost 20 years this season, and now find themselves comfortably sat in mid-table despite operating on one of the lowest budgets in the division.

If anyone had doubted the 36-year-old head coach before now, the stunning win at St James’ Park showed the world just what he and his side are capable of achieving.

“Every time the games have gotten bigger this year, and the atmosphere has gotten bigger, we’ve gotten better. That’s a really encouraging sign for what’s to come next for us in the second half of the season.

“The biggest thing for me is that I want the players to have moments like this in our team and be able to use it as a springboard for their careers, to be ambitious and want more moments like this. I want it to inspire them and us to keep improving.”

Speaking to Prost International, Bonner also explained how difficult it was to prepare to face a Newcastle side who had a number of unnamed absentees due to injury and Covid-19.

“You have no idea when teams haven’t played for a long time whether there’s injuries or Covid cases, you don’t know what teams are going to do. I thought they (Newcastle) would go as strong as possible. I heard Eddie (Howe) speak yesterday and he spoke about how it was a game they needed to win, so that made us think that.

“What you know is that you’ve got an idea of how they’re going to play, and you know they’re going to be really good. So you try and prepare yourselves to be the best version of you as possible.”

Ironside and his inspiring story will take the post-match headlines, but Mitov was the true star of the show. The Bulgarian ‘keeper pulled off countless jaw-dropping saves to keep a clean sheet, earning widespread praise for his efforts.

The funds from Saturday’s FA Cup tie should help Cambridge’s January recruitment, with the U’s set to pocket more than £200,000 in gate receipts and a further £82,000 in prize money. Bonner now needs to make sure his side ride the wave of confidence that this win will provide, both in the league and domestic cups.

Cambridge are still competing in three tournaments at the time of writing, with Portsmouth set to visit The Abbey in the Papa John’s Trophy on Tuesday evening. Bonner did confirm that his side would need to start prioritising the competitions that they want to be competitive in, indicating that he may field a heavily rotated side in the U’s next game.

A favourable fourth-round tie could also see Cambridge prioritise the FA Cup, with the U’s drawn at home Championship outfit Luton Town. Bonner’s side will undoubtedly be the underdogs for the tie, but they will be confident given their impressive record of ‘cupsets’ in the last 18 months.

Ultimately, Cambridge’s main focus will be on remaining in League One, which they are well on course to do after their strong start to life in the third tier. But fans are daring to dream of an FA Cup run, which seems far from impossible with Bonner at the helm.

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