Steve Bruce praises Newcastle midfielder Sean Longstaff for cup performance

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Steve Bruce was full of praise for Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff following his performance on Tuesday night in the FA Cup away victory against Oxford United.

The Magpies needed extra-time to beat their League One opponents 3-2 in the FA Cup fourth round replay at the Kassam Stadium.

Longstaff, 22, opened the scoring in the 15th minute with an effort that he rifled into the top of the net and it was his first goal of the season.

The central midfielder has had a difficult campaign so far at St James’ Park, but looked back to his all-action best in the cup.

Joelinton doubled Newcastle’s lead inside the first-half, but a late comeback from Oxford in the second-half saw them send the game to extra-time.

Substitute Allan Saint-Maximin netted a superb individual goal in the 116th minute to secure the victory and they now have a small break before they return to action on 16 February away to Arsenal in the Premier League.

Magpies boss Bruce picked out Longstaff for his display in the centre of the park and believes it was his best of the season so far.

“He (Longstaff) had a serious knee injury towards the back end of last season. People tend to forget that. He’ll learn how to cope with that,” Bruce said in his post-match press conference, as quoted by the Chronicle.

“Today we gave him a bit of freedom and gave me food for thought because we know he can score a goal. We’ve seen that in training enough. We gave him that little bit of freedom and I think he enjoyed it and he put in his best performance of the season by a million miles.

TBR’s View:

Longstaff really burst onto the Newcastle scene last season to become a key first teamer, but his influence has certainly lessened so far this campaign.

The academy graduate has had to overcome an injury problem and it’s taken him time to get up to full speed.

It’s clear there is a goalscoring problem at the club despite putting three past League One outfit Oxford and Longstaff’s forward runs from the midfield could help be a solution moving forward.