Isak double eases Newcastle to FA Cup win over derby rivals Sunderland | FA Cup

Eddie Howe takes exception to suggestions that his latterly stumbling side are “running on empty”, instead maintaining that “our tank is full”. The good news for Newcastle’s manager was that his players had little need to drain their energy reserves in the course of a cup tie which served as a cruel example of the growing gulf between the Premier League and the Championship.

Long before the final whistle blew on this first Tyneside-Wear derby in eight years and Newcastle celebrated a first win over their near neighbours since 2011, it had become abundantly clear that there was no danger of Howe following in the footsteps of his predecessors Ruud Gullit and Alan Pardew, and parting company with Newcastle after a damaging derby defeat.

Patience is not normally a word associated with Howe’s Newcastle but, perhaps chastened by seven defeats in their last eight games, the visitors modified their hallmark high, hard, often slightly gung ho press. Instead they preferred to dominate possession, often passing sideways and backwards as they bided their time and waited for the Championship’s youngest team to make an inevitable mistake.

For all their undoubted talent and extreme promise, Michael Beale’s team can be error-prone defensively and, right from kick-off, a visiting breakthrough seemed merely a matter of time. Accordingly it is to Sunderland’s tactical credit that 35 minutes passed before Dan Ballard’s own goal began relaxing the frown lines that have begun furrowing Howe’s forehead in recent weeks.

Ballard generally defended with intelligence and resilience but, when the struggling Trai Hume erred and Joelinton whipped a high velocity cross in from the left, Ballard turned the ball into his own net as he desperately attempted to prevent it reaching the waiting Alexander Isak.

Previously in a scrappy, niggle-punctuated derby, Sunderland’s Anthony Patterson had made a smart early save to keep Sean Longstaff’s header out before watching a six-yard shot from the same midfielder swerve off target.

Newcastle were far from anything near their best but they remained much too strong and streetwise to be unduly troubled by their hosts. Tellingly, Martin Dubravka was not required to make a single significant save during an opening 45 minutes so low on Sunderland attacking highlights that a blocked long-range shot from Pierre Ekwah was probably the closest they came to scoring.

With Bruno Guimarães and Joelinton largely controlling midfield, Howe’s right-back Kieran Trippier apparently regaining recently shattered confidence by the minute and Miguel Almirón going close with a volley, it was turning into a gentle warm-up for Manchester City’s Premier League engagement at St James’ Park on Saturday.

That sense was only accelerated once Ekwah suffered a concentration outage 32 seconds the second half, allowing Isak to polish off Almirón’s rolled cutback courtesy of a straightforward tap-in.

That goal emphasised the risks of Sunderland’s philosophy of playing out from the back at every opportunity. It is admittedly easy on the eye but the problem here was that Ekwah’s mind apparently wandered as he lingered on the ball in his own box. The midfielder’s daydream ended abruptly when Almirón pickpocketed possession, leaving Patterson helpless.

Ekwah’s almost immediate attempt at atonement prompted Dubravka’s first real involvement of the afternoon, involving the Slovakia goalkeeper saving his heavily deflected shot with an outstretched foot.

At that point Howe’s only concern would have been the injury which forced Joelinton’s replacement by Lewis Miley at half-time. A thorough review of the club’s medical and sports science protocols allied to major changes in the physiotherapy department underline Newcastle’s concern at their extensive casualty list but, mentally, this was very much a thoroughly restorative, psychologically healing sort of day.

Howe seems slightly reluctant to embrace his club’s new psychologist, Dr Ian Mitchell, into the first team’s inner sanctum. Yet such was the gulf in quality that, bar a few moments of unnecessary off-the-ball aggression between Anthony Gordon and Hume, Mitchell – a highly respected figure appointed by Newcastle’s sporting director, Dan Ashworth – would have been almost redundant here.

Admittedly a shot from Sunderland’s Alex Pritchard grazed the bar but Luke O’Nien was forced to bravely throw his head in the way of Almirón’s goal-bound half-volley.

Howe had looked uncharacteristically nervous as he addressed the media on Friday but he wore the look of a man who had just enjoyed a week’s holiday in the sun after Isak scored the 90th-minute third from the penalty spot after Ballard’s foul on Gordon.