West Bromwich Albion 4 Newcastle United 2

Jan 24 2010 by Neil Farrington, Sunday Sun

AS their road to Wembley hit a dead-end Street – or the end of the Lin – Newcastle could only hope to have cleared a little more of their path to the Premier League.

There were echoes of Trelford Mills as linesman Duncan Street and referee James Linington ensured lifelong notoriety on Tyneside with a matchwinning display for the hosts.

Not since the bearded Mills has one match official, let alone a pair of them, played such a key role in the Magpies’ cup demise.

It wasn’t just that the deadly duo denied Newcastle two penalties, awarded two spot kicks to West Brom and reduced United to 10 men.

It was that so many of those key decisions were intertwined – and therefore decisive – in a match which could so easily have gone the other way.

As it was, other than Andy Carroll’s impressive double, the only consolation to be drawn from a first defeat in three months is the avoidance of any undue fixture congestion at the business end of the Championship season. But such reflection will have to wait until the anger at the rank inconsistency of yesterday’s man in the middle – and his assistant – has subsided.

Having adjudged, with remarkable confidence, that Jonas Olsson’s 17th-minute header had crossed the line, Mr Street then awarded the penalty from which Graham Dorrans doubled Albion’s lead just past the half-hour.

And then, as Newcastle did their best to make a game of it after the break, Linington did his worst.

The veteran of just five Championship games somehow saw fit not to punish Dorrans with a penalty for a blatant push on Ryan Taylor.

Then, after Carroll had volleyed United back into the game, Linington denied Shola Ameobi a spot kick.

Moments later, the referee – rightly – punished the hapless Taylor for bringing Jerome Thomas to ground in the United box. But only while ignoring that Ameobi lay injured upfield.

There were no such complaints - other than to Lady Luck - as Thomas settled the tie with a fourth goal and Carroll scored a solo consolation in added time.

But the sense of rough justice remained.

The afternoon had begun in upbeat mood, despite Newcastle – through choice or necessity – shuffling their pack while Albion retained the starting XI which posed such problems at St James’ Park.

For it was the visitors who were quickest into their stride, with Kevin Nolan a defender’s boot away from being sent clean through by Jose Enrique and Jonas Gutierrez showing up well down the left flank.

From one searching cross by Gutierrez, a soaring Carroll headed high and wide.

But it twice needed safe hands from Tim Krul to deny Marek Cech from distance, and then Roman Bednar fired over as the Baggies began to ask questions. And when Olsson trotted forward for the first time, United – as on Monday – had no answer.

Having sloppily conceded a right-wing corner, Newcastle were caught ball watching – again – as Chris Brunt’s delivery was met unchallenged by Olsson.

And although Enrique kept the ball from hitting the net, he was ruled by Mr Street to have failed to prevent it crossing the line.

Half-hearted appeals to the linesman hardly hinted at a team hard done by.

But the man with the flag would not be let off the hook second time around.

Just before the half-hour, Kadar checked Bednar just firmly enough for the Czech to take a tumble.

It probably was a penalty, but how the linesman could see that better than a well-placed, but impassive referee, is anyone’s guess.

The protests, and the booking for Kadar which followed, went on for two minutes, but did not distract Dorrans from the task of stroking home the penalty to Krul’s left.