Sandro Tonali bags brace as Newcastle beat 10-man Aston Villa in FA Cup

By Jonathan Veal, Press Association

Sandro Tonali scored twice as Newcastle overcame a raft of baffling refereeing decisions by Chris Kavanagh to beat 10-man Aston Villa 3-1 in a pulsating FA Cup fourth-round tie.

With VAR not in use until the next round, Kavanagh and his team appeared to get at least three major decisions incorrect on a night which showed officials have perhaps become reliant on their colleagues at Stockley Park.

Villa went ahead through Tammy Abraham’s clearly offside goal before Kavanagh failed to send Lucas Digne off for a reckless shin-high tackle on Jacob Murphy before the break.

The worst decision of all came when Newcastle were denied an obvious penalty for handball when a cross hit the arm of Digne three yards inside the area, instead awarding a free-kick.

But there was no question about the decision to send Villa’s Marco Bizot off in first-half stoppage time, with the goalkeeper wiping out Murphy near the centre circle.

And that gave Eddie Howe’s side the momentum to turn the game around in the second half, with two Tonali strikes in 13 minutes and a late Nick Woltemade effort sending them into the hat for the fifth round.

A fortnight ago, Villa boss Unai Emery said VAR was “unfair” after it cruelly intervened to deny a goal they scored in a Premier League defeat to Brentford.

But he would have been grateful for its absence in a first half where big decisions went his side’s way.

First, they were fortunate to open the scoring in the 14th minute when Abraham was in an offside position from Douglas Luiz’s free-kick.

The flag stayed down and the January signing converted his first goal in Villa colours since his 2019 loan spell.

Then there was more injustice for Newcastle in the 22nd minute as they were denied a penalty.

Lewis Hall appeared to be chopped down by Victor Lindelof and Kavanagh waved play on, but it was a decision that would have been forensically dissected if they were watching from Stockley Park.

Villa continued to probe and Leon Bailey headed a good opportunity wide from Digne’s cross and then Luiz fizzed an effort just over the crossbar.

Newcastle were left furious when Digne avoided a red card in the 42nd minute.

The French left-back clattered into Murphy at high speed. It was another decision which VAR would have got involved with as replays showed Digne caught Murphy above the ankle.

But there was no way Kavanagh was going to get the next major decision wrong as the first half ended in calamity for Villa.

Bailey was woefully careless with a pass, which allowed Newcastle to counter from a corner.

Bizot came racing out of his goal and wiped out Murphy near the centre circle, with Kavanagh immediately reaching for the red card.

A disastrous night for the referee continued in the 63rd minute as he and assistant referee Nick Greenhalgh inexplicably ruled that Digne handled Kieran Trippier’s cross outside the penalty area when replays showed he was yards inside.

There was some justice from the resulting free-kick, though, as Tonali fired home via a deflection off Luiz after Emiliano Martinez had flapped at the delivery.

Tonali then put Newcastle in front with a sweet strike from distance, finding the bottom corner from 20 yards.

Woltemade wrapped up proceedings in the 88th minute when he took advantage of a misplaced pass by Lamare Bogarde.