Substitute Anthony Gordon on target from spot as Newcastle rally to beat Bromley

Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes came off the bench to ease Newcastle into the FA Cup fourth round after Eddie Howe was forced to turn to his big guns to see off League Two Bromley.

Head coach Howe made nine changes to the side which beat Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg in midweek as he attempted to rest key men, but saw his understudies fail to impress in a first half during which Cameron Congreve fired the visitors into an eighth-minute lead in front of a crowd of 52,088 at St James’ Park.

Lewis Miley levelled before half-time, but such was Howe’s displeasure that he sent on Gordon and Guimaraes after the restart and saw the England international convert a 49th-minute penalty before 21-year-old striker Will Osula wrapped up a 3-1 win and an eighth on the trot for the first time since 2016 with his first goal for the club.

Harvey Barnes made early inroads as the Magpies looked for a fast start against Bromley’s five-man defence, and the £38million man should have done better after bursting into the box with six minutes gone only to shoot into the side-netting from an unlikely angle when there were more realistic options inside.

However, it was the visitors who sent their travelling supporters into raptures two minutes later when Corey Whitely fed Congreve 25 yards out and he escaped Miley’s attentions before steering a left-footed shot past the sprawling Martin Dubravka.

They might have been in dreamland with 14 minutes gone when full-back Danny Imray intercepted Lloyd Kelly’s pass to Matt Targett deep inside his own half and raced upfield before firing across Dubravka, but also wide of the far post.

However, the Magpies were level within two minutes when, after Osula had rounded keeper Grant Smith