Joelinton ended his 20-game wait for a second Newcastle goal as the Premier League side dispatched League One Rochdale 4-1 to reach the FA Cup fourth round.
Controversial owner Mike Ashley, on Tyneside for transfer talks with head coach Steve Bruce, was among a crowd of 29,786 at St James’ Park to see the man for whom he paid £40million in the summer score with an 82nd-minute strike.
Eoghan O’Connell’s own goal had earlier set the Magpies on their way in the replay before Matty Longstaff and Miguel Almiron struck to make it 3-0 after just 26 minutes, with the returning Matt Ritchie providing the ammunition for the first two.
Brazilian Joelinton, whose last goal came at Tottenham on August 25, added a fourth before Jordan Williams’ late consolation strike as Newcastle – who have not reached the fifth round since 2006 – booked a home tie against third tier Oxford.
Newcastle, with Ritchie starting his first game since damaging an ankle in August, had to be patient as they sought a way through the massed defences of the League One side in a tame start to the game.
Indeed, it was the visitors who produced the first attempt on goal when midfielder Jimmy Keohane sent a fifth-minute effort from distance wide of the target.
Almiron might have done better when he missed the target from 20 yards after Christian Atsu had laid off Sean Longstaff’s ball over the top at the other end five minutes later, and the Paraguay international saw his 15th-minute strike come back off a post.
The Magpies finally took the lead two minutes later when defender O’Connell turned Ritchie’s cross past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and into his own net.
It was 2-0 within three minutes when Matty Longstaff controlled another Ritchie cross expertly before firing past Sanchez, and Almiron effectively killed off the tie after Sanchez had delivered the ball straight to him inside the penalty area.
Aaron Wilbraham, whose equaliser had secured the replay, fired over on the turn on the half-hour as Dale enjoyed a measure of respite, but Joelinton and defender Florian Lejeune might have added to the home side’s tally before the break.
Jimmy Ryan sent a dipping 49th-minute volley just over and Stephen Dooley and Callum Camps both went close as Rochdale started the second half well.
However, substitute keeper Jay Lynch had to save from Isaac Hayden as the Magpies pressed once again and with the game all but won, Bruce freshened things up when he handed a debut to 20-year-old Tom Allan before sending on Andy Carroll in place of Almiron.
Jolelinton’s moment finally arrived with eight minutes remaining when Carroll and Allan combined to set him up from close range and he duly obliged, although the travelling fans had something to cheer as Williams pulled one back with a neat finish off a post as time ran down.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here