How Bournemouth's shootout loss 'completed a circle of sorts'

Bournemouth's exit from the FA Cup on penalties at Newcastle United completed a circle of sorts, as the two sides had contested the first televised FA Cup penalty shootout in January 1992.

Before the 1991-92 season, drawn FA Cup ties were replayed, again and again, until a winner was found. The record was set by non-league duo Alvechurch and Oxford City in 1971-72, when five replays were needed to settle their fourth qualifying round tie.

Second replays onward were often played at neutral venues, in front of much-reduced crowds. For Bournemouth's part, they played Torquay at Bristol City's Ashton Gate (1932), Ipswich at Arsenal's Highbury (1952), Watford at Swindon's County Ground (1967), Blackpool at Aston Villa's Villa Park (1972), Gillingham at Brentford's Griffin Park (1974) and Colchester at Watford's Vicarage Road (1977) in cup competitions.

Fast forward to 1991-92 when penalties were imposed after one replay. Having beaten Bromsgrove Rovers and Brentford in the first two rounds, Bournemouth were handed a third successive home tie against Newcastle. A goalless draw at Dean Court was followed by a replay at St James' Park which was abandoned after 17 minutes because of (literally) fog on the Tyne.

So eight days later, the sides tried again and as it was the only Cup tie on that night, it was naturally chosen for live broadcast by Sky Sports, with extended highlights on BBC One's Sportsnight.

1992's viewers were treated to an entertaining 2-2 draw and, as in 2025-26, one of Newcastle's first five penalties in 1992 was blazed too high, while another was saved by the Cherries goalkeeper diving to his right.

However, Bournemouth's 2026 penalty takers were not able to match the success from 12 yards enjoyed by their counterparts from 1992 (who scored four spot-kicks out of four to complete a 4-3 win) and the Magpies booked their place in the next round.

It ends a run of five successful penalty competitions for the Cherries, whose previous loss in a shootout was to Portsmouth in the Football League Trophy in 2012.

Since then, they had overcome Preston (2015), Forest Green (2019), Crystal Palace (2020) and Norwich (2022) in the League Cup, as well as Wolves in last season's FA Cup fifth round.