Capital One Cup: Alan Pardew praises Newcastle striker Sammy Ameobi after victory over Morecambe

The 21-year-old sealed a 2-0 win

Agency
Thursday 29 August 2013 12:05 BST
Comments
Mathieu Debuchy of Newcastle and Morecambe's Kevin Ellison
Mathieu Debuchy of Newcastle and Morecambe's Kevin Ellison (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew praised Sammy Ameobi's growing maturity after watching him team up with older brother Shola to dump Morecambe out of the Capital One Cup.

The 21-year-old sealed a 2-0 victory deep into injury time with his first goal of the season as the Magpies finally cleared a tricky hurdle.

Pardew has known for some time just how talented the younger Ameobi is, but it has taken him time to adapt to the demands of senior football.

However, he believes the penny has finally dropped.

The manager said: "Sammy put in a really good display offensively and defensively. We have had problems with him defensively in the past.

"We have never doubted his talent, but he put it all together this pre-season and that was shown tonight.

"I thought he was the difference between the two teams until Hatem [Ben Arfa] came on, who then really did open the game up for us."

Sammy Ameobi started the game and was one of the few positives for Newcastle during a first half which proved more than uncomfortable.

Had it not been for midfielder Dan Gosling's attention to detail, both Mark Hughes and Padraig Amond might have headed the League Two side into the lead inside the opening 21 minutes.

Amond also forced goalkeeper Rob Elliot into two important saves in a first half which gave Jim Bentley's men every encouragement.

Pardew, who is desperately hoping director of football Joe Kinnear can land his transfer targets during the remaining days of the summer window, made his move at the break when he replaced Haris Vuckic with the more physical Shola Ameobi, and saw the newcomer pass up a glorious 49th-minute opportunity to score.

But when his second chance arrived with six minutes remaining, he made no mistake, spinning on Ben Arfa's pass and firing home from 20 yards with the help of a deflection off the unfortunate Hughes.

His younger brother's big moment arrived deep in stoppage, time with Ben Arfa again the supplier as the Magpies booked a home third-round tie against Leeds.

Pardew said: "It was a good cup-tie, wasn't it? When you get a Premier League side coming down, that's the sort of response you want from a home team.

"A League Two team is going to show you what it's about. They are proper professionals, proper people who play the game for their livelihoods to pay their mortgages.

"We had to stand up to that and I am very pleased with the young players I put in."

Bentley was delighted with the way his players handled the challenge and very nearly bloodied the nose of a top-flight club.

He said: "It's a good competition and I think we showed tonight - and Newcastle showed, to be fair, it was a proper cup tie.

"It wasn't just a case of they turned up, we had a little game of football, we shook hands and we went home. You could see both sets of players wanted to win the game."

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in