Sean Longstaff, he’s one of our own.
It took just five minutes for the chant to start swirling around St James’ Park, and it was still in place after the Newcastle midfielder conducted his post-match interviews 10 minutes after full-time. Two goals, a 2-1 win on the night, and he’d steered his club to Wembley.
The Local Hero. For the second time in consecutive Carabao Cup ties at St James’, after Dan Burn’s quarter-final endeavour, a Geordie boy was the goalscoring champions.
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Spare a thought, however, for a third Geordie on the pitch last night, Longstaff’s former Academy team-mate Adam Armstrong, who cut a frustrated and at times isolated figure at the other end of the pitch. As the Saints struggled to get a foothold in the first half, Armstrong perfectly epitomised that.
Several times he made intelligent runs between full-back and centre-half, only to watch on in disappointment as the pass never came. He had just eight touches in the opening 45 minutes.
The Geordie had to watch on as his old Under-23s pal stole the show. Armstrong and Longstaff grew up together in the Benton academy, their birthdays separated by just eight months. Both quickly became the shining lights of a set-up that had struggled to produce players for the first team.
It was Armstrong, the younger of the two, who got his opportunity first. Highly-rated by all at Newcastle, the diminutive forward burst on to the scene first with the England youth teams, playing alongside another Newcastle man in goalkeeper Freddie Woodman as the England U20s lifted the FIFA World Cup in 2017. Lively, pacy, intelligent and with a real eye for goal, Armstrong was earmarked as one of the country’s brightest prospects.
By then, he’d already made his first-team debut for the Magpies at the age of just 17, as a substitute against Fulham at St James’ Park in March 2014, becoming Newcastle’s second youngest player in the Premier League era. When Alan Pardew handed him his first start on Boxing Day the same year, at Old Trafford of all places, a big future beckoned.
It wasn’t to be realised on Tyneside, however. Armstrong, impatient for regular opportunities, went out on loan to Coventry and then signed permanently for Blackburn Rovers, bagging dozens of goals in first League One and then the Championship before gaining his reward with a £15million move to the Premier League and Southampton.
Goals have been harder to come by since then for the Newcastle native. Despite a dream debut strike, Armstrong has scored just four times for the Saints. He thought he had number five in the first leg against his old club when he bundled home after coming on as a substitute, only for VAR to rule it out for offside.
Certain sections of the Magpies fanbase seemed to take umbrage with Armstrong’s celebrations at what they thought was an equaliser, and harshly booed the player every time he touched the ball in the return leg. For a boyhood Newcastle fan who refused to celebrate when he notched against United for Blackburn in 2019, it would have been disappointing to hear.
He had the chance to ram those boos back down the throats in the second half when, with Southampton dominating, he slipped in behind the United defence only to denied by the onrushing Nick Pope. It was a huge save and another pivotal moment in the tie.
Armstrong, the goal machine as an Academy prospect, had been upstaged in front of goal by Longstaff, who picked the perfect evening to end his own St James’ drought, bagging his first goals in front of the Gallowgate in four years. Not that he’d been worried about his form in front of goal.
“They were definitely the most important goals of my career, but it wasn’t something I was worried about, not as much as maybe everyone else was,” he said after the semi-final win. “It’s always been a strength of mine and if I keep getting in there, I can’t miss them forever.”
Many watchers of the North Shields player as a youngster felt his best position was as a No 10, capable of chipping in with crucial goals from both inside and outside the area. He even filled in as a central striker for the younger teams when Armstrong was unavailable.
It’s as a No 8, however, that Longstaff has found his best form, establishing himself as an automatic pick in Eddie Howe’s first-choice XI. Howe and his coaching team have transformed a player once short on confidence into someone who leads the press, offers defensive and attacking versatility, and who regularly outshines bigger names. Goals were all that was missing from recent performances - adding in those on a regular basis could see him take his game on to the next level.
That attacking instinct may be put on hold for the next three games. With Bruno Guimareas suspended after his red card, and no deadline day signing arriving to replace Jonjo Shelvey, Newcastle are light in the centre of midfield. Howe may opt, as he did earlier in the season in games against Wolves, Liverpool and Crystal Palace, to move Longstaff slightly deeper and more central to sit in front of the back four in Bruno’s absence.
It’s a measure of how far he has come under the Magpies manager that Longstaff, at times doubted by sections of supporters, is now seen as an integral part of a push for a Champions League place and a bid for the club’s first domestic silverware in 68 years.
In contrast, for his old pal Adam Armstrong, a relegation battle awaits.
