‘Shocking’: Martin Keown can’t believe what he saw from £25m Newcastle man against Sheff Wed last night

By Ben Evans

Newcastle United suffered their first defeat since August last night, as they fell at the first hurdle in the FA Cup.

Sheffield Wednesday produced one of the biggest upsets of the third round with their 2-1 victory of Eddie Howe’s side.

Speaking on the BBC’s live coverage of the match (7/1 7:37pm), Martin Keown was unimpressed with one Newcastle player.

Howe made a host of changes as he gave some of his fringe players an opportunity to impress.

There was a start for the recalled goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, while youngster Elliot Anderson was also given the nod.

Club-record signing Alexander Isak was also finally unleashed after being unavailable for months due to injury.

Isak played just the first 45 minutes, and Howe will want to carefully manage his game time following such a long spell out.

He made way for Chris Wood, who was involved in Newcastle’s only goal.

The Kiwi flicked on Kieran Trippier’s corner which was eventually bundled in by Bruno Guimaraes.

However, Wood should have scored in the final moments, ballooning his effort way over the bar.

It would have earned his side a replay and prolonged their impressive unbeaten run.

Wood should have scored against Sheff Wed

With ten minutes left to play and Newcastle pushing for an equaliser, Trippier played a fantastic ball into Joelinton’s path.

The Brazilian carried the ball up the pitch before playing Wood through on goal.

Unfortunately, with just the keeper to beat he smashed his shot way over the bar, prompting the commentator to shout, “Chris Wood, what have you done?”

Martin Keown followed this up by saying, “You can see, there’s a glaring opportunity for Chris Wood to pick a spot and he gets it all wrong.

“It really is a shocking finish.”

The £25m striker has been relied upon by Howe this season when Callum Wilson and Isak have both been unavailable.

His role should have been very limited, but Wood has played just 200 minutes less than Wilson this season.

Eddie Howe appears determined to keep Wood, despite interest from other clubs in his services.

The Athletic believe he’s far from certain to see out the end of his contract, which runs until 2024.

Wood will know he should have scored yesterday, and will hope to get an opportunity to redeem himself soon.

That could come against Leicester on Tuesday, when the Magpies hope they can reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.