Tim Krul has now moved into uncharted territory and The Mag reports on him making history.
In his entire time at Newcastle United the goalkeeper never experienced the fifth round of the FA Cup when in the first team.
Signing in July 2005, a 17 year old Tim Krul watched on as Newcastle reached the sixth round in March 2006, losing to Chelsea after beating Mansfield, Cheltenham and Southampton.
However, once making it into the first team squad it was misery all the way.
Summing up the Mike Ashley philosophy of not trying in the cups, Tim Krul says ‘The Premier League was always more of a priority.’
That all changed on a personal level for Krul on Saturday, as a late Glenn Murray winner at Middlesbrough put Brighton into the fifth round.
With Mathew Ryan the number one, the former Newcastle keeper has been restricted to being Brighton’s cup keeper this season, playing and losing against Bournemouth in the League Cup, then playing in Saturday’s win against Boro and the third round victory over Crystal Palace.
In contrast Newcastle yet again went out early, losing 3-0 at Chelsea.
It means not a single FA Cup fifth round whilst Mike Ashley has been in charge.
As well as the defeats to clubs such as Stevenage and Oxford from the lower divisions, it is also a fact that under Ashley, Newcastle have never beaten a Premier League club in the FA Cup.
Tim Krul is now looking forward to his fifth round game and says that Chris Hughton is making the FA Cup a priority, especially with a belief that it can help kickstart better form in the Premier League as well.
As for Newcastle United, we can now, as always, just concentrate on the league…
Tim Krul:
“I never had a sniff of a Cup run in 10 years at Newcastle United and now this…
“It is a nice win and on a personal level, it definitely keeps my own season going.
“Now I have got another big game to look forward to (in the FA Cup fifth round).
“It was a real shame that I never had any kind of (a cup) run at Newcastle.
“At the start of my time there the cup ties were the only games I was getting – but it wasn’t great.
“We went to places like Stevenage and Peterborough (League Cup) and never seemed to get the breaks, or the wins, we needed.
“The Premier League was always more of a priority and we even lost a couple of times to Brighton.
“The gaffer (Chris Hughton) has made it clear to us that the FA Cup is really important and it gives a bit of confidence to kickstart again in the Premier League.”