Sunderland 0 – 3 Newcastle United – Match report

Newcastle United earned their first victory on Sunderland soil since 2011 this afternoon.

It had been over seven years since these two bitter rivals met but Alexander Isak’s second-half brace saw Newcastle beat their North East rivals to reach the third round of the FA Cup at the expense of Micheal Beale’s Black Cats.

Sunderland were unchanged from their 2-0 victory over Preston North End on New Years Day, while the visitors welcomed back Kieran Trippier to the starting XI replacing Valentino Livramento.

Newcastle dominated the game from the get-go and the Magpies’ quality shone through after Dan Ballard turned Joelinton’s cross into his own net at the Roker End.

36 seconds after the restart the game was effectively over when Pierre Ekwah was pickpocketed by Miguel Almiron on the edge of the Sunderland box and the winger squared for Isak to score.

Alex Pritchard clipped the top of the cross bar in the second-half and was the only player in red and white who threatened Martin Dubravka for the hosts.

Isak scored his second of the match from the penalty spot after Anthony Gordon was clatted by Dan Ballard in the Sunderland penalty area.

A spot in the hat for round four eases the pressure on Eddie Howe, with this game a potential banana skin amid a dismal Premier League run.