Bruce identifies ‘Achilles heel’ of Newcastle after surviving cup scare

Newcastle boss Steve Bruce commended the efforts of Newport County, but couldn’t hide his frustration with what he labelled as Newcastle’s “Achilles heel”.

The Magpies were on the verge of a humiliating EFL Cup exit to Newport for the vast majority of their encounter.

A magnificent solo goal from Jonjo Shelvey levelled the scores late on, however, with Newcastle ultimately progressing to the quarter finals on sudden death penalties.

Bruce was full of praise for their plucky opponents, but admitted his side’s inability to turn chances into goals was once again a concern.

“I have to credit Newport, you can understand now how they’ve beaten Watford and Swansea this year and in the past Middlesbrough and Leeds and they took City all the way,” he told Sky Sports.

“They beat Leicester as well, you can understand why.

“They’re a decent football side, congratulations to the manager and players; they threw everything at it, particularly in the last 10 to 15 mins.

“It looked like we wouldn’t get the breakthrough for a long time and we understand that’s our Achilles heel.

“We had 27 attempts on goal, 10 on target but until you get a goal it’s always in the balance and they got one after five minutes which disturbs you and it gives them even more belief than they already had.”