Fabian Schär on target for Newcastle to deny AFC Wimbledon’s defensive efforts | Carabao Cup

Eddie Howe was evidently not ­exaggerating when, on the eve of ­kick-off, he described AFC ­Wimbledon as “well organised”.

If anything it proved quite an understatement as Johnnie ­Jackson’s League Two players not only ­prevented Newcastle from ­scoring in open play but succeeded in ­frequently silencing St James’ Park.

It took Fabian Schär’s coolly ­dispatched penalty to book Howe’s team an intriguing fourth round engagement at home to Chelsea at the end of a night when the excellent Wimbledon captain Joe Lewis proved obduracy personified at the heart of his team’s central defensive trinity. Not that any of his similarly committed team-mates were remotely shabby.

As recently as last Saturday, Pep Guardiola suggested that ­Newcastle are “impossible” to contain for a full 90 minutes but, much as Howe’s players dominated possession and were never in real danger of defeat, Wimbledon made a pretty good fist of proving the ­Manchester City ­manager wrong.

This tie was supposed to have been played a week ago at ­Wimbledon but when torrential rain led to the River Wandle flooding and a sink hole ­opening up on the sodden Plough Lane pitch an inevitable ­postponement beckoned.

It prompted a switch of venues almost 300 miles north yet ­Jackson’s team arrived buoyed by not merely a highly promising start to their League Two campaign but the memory of eliminating the ­Premier League’s Ipswich in the previous round.

Despite making eight changes form the XI that started last ­Saturday’s draw with City, Howe named a strong side ­constructed around the talents of, among others, Joelinton, Joe ­Willock and Harvey Barnes.

Given that it was augmented by an even stronger bench featuring Bruno Guimarães, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon, Wimbledon had reason to look a little daunted. Instead they largely held their own and looked pretty ­comfortable in the course of a first half that saw ­Newcastle struggle to ­create clear cut chances and a clearly ­offside Miguel Almirón have a goal rightly disallowed.

With the visitors back three ­morphing into a defensive quintet whenever Newcastle attacked, Will Osula was generally second guessed on his first start in black and white stripes after moving north east from Sheffield United in the summer.

A big part of Osula’s problem was Wimbledon’s intelligence in cutting the service to Newcastle’s new ­centre forward. Granted Jackson’s players were far too busy closing their hosts down to conjure too many ­attacking of their own yet, for protracted ­periods, it was hard to believe 60 League places had separated this pair at kick-off.

If the moments when Schär’s brilliant through ball to Almirón very nearly undid ­Jackson’s rearguard and a ­swerving shot unleashed by Barnes’s right boot curved fractionally wide served as reminders that Newcastle could play a bit after all, they were strictly isolated.

Indeed an unapologetically direct Wimbledon could ­conceivably have taken the lead when Joe ­Pigott slipped a lovely low pass to the on-rushing Omar Bugiel who was denied by a brave save from ­Martin Dubravka, leaving Newcastle’s ­goalkeeper limping.

Dubravka though was soon ­celebrating after first Schär was upended in the box and then Huseyin Biler sent Almirón crashing. With Biler arguably fortunate to be merely booked, Schär stepped forward to execute a non-contentious penalty in immaculate, textbook fashion.

As the former Switzerland defender nonchalantly placed the ball out of Owen Goodman’s reach, Howe barely raised a smile. The home manager’s increasingly manic gum chewing had signalled a ­certain unhappiness with his team’s ­performance and he attempted to raise to the tone by introducing ­Guimarães’s in place of Barnes at the start of the second half.

The former Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos made his Newcastle debut after replacing Dubravka but, with his teammates enjoying more than 80% possession, he had scant ­opportunity to show off his reflexes against ­opponents set on damage limitation and determined to retain their five at the back safety net.

Maybe it was more by accident than design but Riley Harbottle proved emblematic of Wimbledon’s collective defiance when Willock’s volley smacked him straight in the face. If – albeit quite a bit if – that really was intentional, blocks rarely come any braver.

Hats off to the otherwise well ­protected Goodman too for a ­courageous late save that ­prevented the industrious, if raw, Osula from registering a debut goal. ­But ­Newcastle will need to raise their game appreciably if Chelsea are to be ­overcome at the end of this month.