Oxford United put in a dogged performance at St James' Park to earn a well-deserved replay as Newcastle United's wait to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup goes on.

Story of the game

Newcastle dominated the opening minutes and their first real effort came after 24 minutes after a flurry of appeals for a penalty inside the box before Sean Longstaff crossed for Jamaal Lascelles who headed over from 10-yards.

Allan Saint-Maximin produced a piece of magic after 38 minutes faking to take the ball one way before spinning off the defender the other way and advancing forward before forcing Simon Eastwood into a fine low save from the edge of the area.

Nabil Bentaleb found himself further up the pitch at the start of the second half as three minutes in he found space 25-yards out and unleashed a thunderous effort which almost squirmed under Eastwood.

After 53 minutes Joelinton made a great run in behind the defence but Saint-Maximin delayed the pass which saw the Brazillian stary offside before finishing well.

On the hour mark, there was a heart in mouth moment for Newcastle as Lascelles diverted a low Oxford cross behind which Karl Darlow had come to claim, narrowly going wide.

Three minutes later Marcus Browne skipped past Matt Ritchie before cutting inside from the left and firing a shot off balance towards the top corner but went fizzing agonisingly over the bar.

Again, Browne caused problems with his pace as he got between Lascelles and Fabian Schar before fluffing his lines in a one-on-one situation against Darlow only 12-yards out.

Matty Longstaff had been on the pitch a few minutes before curling an effort towards the far corner and Eastwood was rooted to the spot but it did not have enough curl on it just going wide.

A minute later Oxford tried to play out from the back before seeing a pass blocked into the path of Joelinton who lifted the ball over the on-rushing Eastwood, however, he had been standing in an offside position.

With 15 minutes left to play Ritchie swung in a dangerous corner which Lascelles knocked down for Miguel Almiron, however, his overhead kick did not come back down in time just looping over the bar.

In added time Nathan Holland forced Darlow into a great save as it was heading for the top corner with a lot of pace on the shot.

Takeaways

A striker must be a priority

Newcastle impressed going forward against Rochdale in the last round, however, they struggled to convert the chances that they created.

It was not just Joelinton, who did have the ball in the back of the net twice, but more the attacking players running off him needed more composure. 

On numerous occasions, Newcastle players were taking long-range shots or taking too many touches instead of getting their heads up and finding someone in space.

Another fixture is not ideal

Newcastle's injury list is getting shorter but is still far from ideal and having to make a midweek trip down to Oxford is the last thing Bruce's side would want to be doing.

It is another fixture where first-team players will be fielded, thus meaning more chance of players picking up more injuries.