Eddie Howe says Joe Willock let his ‘football do the talking’ after online abuse | OneFootball

Eddie Howe hailed Joe Willock for letting his “football do the talking” after the striker fired Newcastle into the FA Cup fifth round a week after being the target of racist online abuse.

Willock was abused on Instagram in the wake of Newcastle’s 2-1 defeat home at Fulham last weekend, with the Magpies describing the comments as “appalling”.

But the 25-year-old was the centre of attention for different reasons on Saturday night after his brace of goals, including an 82nd-minute winner, helped Newcastle overcome Birmingham 3-2 in a hard-fought cup clash at St Andrew’s.

Howe said: “I think Joe has handled himself this week really well. His response to what he suffered was really admirable, really strong willed.

“He loves his football and I think he’s just concentrated on that this week and tried to put all other distractions behind him. He let his football do the talking.

“Really pleased for him because he’s such a talented lad. You want to see Joe at his best, it’s been a stop-start season for him but today is a big moment I think.

“The two goals are typical Joe. I was really pleased with the second one because from our perspective we didn’t want extra time. It was a second half with not a lot of goalscoring opportunities so we needed to be clinical when they came and thankfully Joe was.”

Having booked a spot in the Carabao Cup final with victory over Arsenal in midweek, Newcastle edged a step closer to another trip to Wembley with their win over Birmingham, although it was far from comfortable for the Magpies against a Birmingham side on an 18-match unbeaten run.

The League One leaders went ahead inside 40 seconds through Ethan Laird, and while Newcastle hit back thanks to goals from Willock and Callum Wilson – making his first start in 280 days – Birmingham were level at the break following a Tomoki Iwata thunderbolt.

Newcastle were ultimately indebted to Willock’s late winner as they sealed their place in the fifth-round draw, and Howe was especially relieved to settle the tie in regulation time.

He added: “We did it in the 90 minutes which was massive for us, we didn’t want to go to extra time.

“The priority was to try and get through so we would’ve done that if that needed to be the case, but we wanted to get it done in 90 minutes. We needed to keep the momentum and feel-good factor.

“Tonight we had everything to lose really. Great response from the players following the highs of Wednesday.

“I’ve watched a lot of them in the build-up to today and that’s why I knew today was going to be difficult.”

Birmingham saw their cup adventure and unbeaten run come to an end but boss Chris Davies was proud of the way his side went toe-to-toe with a Premier League outfit.

He said: “I am very proud of their performance and they should be proud. The spirit and heart was there for everyone to see.

“I thought we gave Newcastle a good game and right til the end we were in it. We still had our moments but very proud of the efforts of the players.

“We certainly didn’t park the bus and were aggressive with the press. We are a team that like to play and we showed that.”

Regarding Willock’s contentious 21st-minute equaliser, where it was unclear whether the ball had crossed the line before Birmingham keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell pushed it out, Davies said:“It sounds like it was inconclusive, whether it was over or not.

“Then it sounds like a 50-50 chance of going in your favour and it’s gone in theirs. A bit harsh in that respect but nothing you can do about it.”