They may have new owners, grand ideas and an eye-wateringly expensive wish list, but some things just don't change where Newcastle United are concerned.

The club's 400th FA Cup tie over 125 seasons gave another generation of supporters a taste of this club's ongoing inadequacy in cup competitions at a sold-out Gallowgate on Saturday.

A roll of dishonour featuring the likes of Bedford Town, Hereford United, Chester City and Stevenage now includes third tier Cambridge - who took their chance unlike the hosts, and held on grimly for 34 minutes.

In fairness it's been a while since we were the victims of a giant-killing; a few near things involving replays but none since Oxford away five years ago.

Unlike that planned defeat in 2017 though, this latest disgrace was achieved with a strong starting XI that even included new signing Kieran Trippier: it was anything but a weakened team, unless you start to include the all-too evident shortcomings of the current senior squad.

Those problems manifested themselves most noticeably up front; Callum Wilson joined on the sidelines by Dwight Gayle and a forward line led at various points today by Ryan Fraser, Allan Saint-Maximin and Jacob Murphy who all proved incapable of finding the net.

There was no lack of chances for the black and whites; Murphy alone with a trio of decent opportunities before the break - the best of which was palmed on to the crossbar by U's goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov in the final seconds of the first half.

That came after a spell of belated pressure on the Leazes End goal included Fabian Schar's close-range shot being ruled out for offside and Sean Longstaff heading a Saint-Maximin cross wide when it looked easier to score.

At the other end, the League One side only rarely visited Martin Dubravka's area, but caused a genuine moment of panic after Matt Ritchie sent Harvey Knibbs flying in the box on 36 minutes - referee Michael Salisbury's refusal to award a penalty only belatedly backed up by VAR.

Making no changes at the interval, the ball was soon in the Cambridge net after a neat run and finish from Murphy, but he was rightly pulled up for starting from an offside position.

The pivotal passage of play would come 11 minutes into the second period, Ben Worman's flighted forward pass helped on by the boot of Jonjo Shelvey en route to reaching Adam May in the box.

His shot was blocked by the legs of Dubravka, but as he scrambled to claim possession Knibbs beat him to the loose ball and turned to shoot from the edge of the six yard box.

That goalbound effort was repelled by a weak header out from Schar but he succeeded only in finding Joe Ironside, who turned and found the net with a scooped right foot shot from six yards - before wheeling away to salute the travelling throng up on Level 7.

Treatment for the goalkeeper allowed for another elongated VAR judgement as to whether a visiting player was offside, but there was to be no reprieve for one United and ecstasy for the other one in what was their first-ever game to be staged using that technology.

The reaction from Eddie Howe's side was increasingly incoherent; random crosses played in from both wings but a constant lack of quality. And while basic shortcomings are often masked in PL games by our inferior possession stats, today we had maximum opportunity to showcase our limitations. 

The hosts survived yet another VAR decision on 86 minutes, a quicker one this time that endorsed an offside flag to deny substitute Jack Lankester a goal.

Five minutes of added time included a couple of corners that found Dubravka in the opposition area, but the best chance was a Joelinton header somehow clawed away by Mitov to prevent extra time.

Given that the major task this season is to avoid relegation it's difficult to get too worked up about another cup misadventure and avoiding an extra 30 minutes of play ahead of the pivotal visit of Watford next Saturday.

That doesn't mean that the lessons learnt today shouldn't be taken on board though. On this evidence, that major rebuild of the side may well have to be preceded by wholesale demolition. If we are indeed reaching for the stars, there were several players here who passed up the opportunity to earn a "wanted on voyage" pass.... 

That waste of an afternoon was exemplified by Joe Willock, who seemed to have taken personal offence at starting the tie on the bench, slouching on after the goal and doing his best not to contribute anything.
 
Apart from the inability to keep a clean sheet, the scoring problem obviously dominates and overshadows our future. News that Callum Wilson is likely to be missing for another eight weeks is not the worst outcome envisaged, but the lack of goalscorers completely undermines any other work we do in this window - and signing one is nowhere near enough frankly.

And what of Trippier? Having done his best to try and inspire them, the England international concluded his debut by trying unsuccessfully to wave some of his new colleagues back on to the field after they'd sloped off on the final whistle without acknowledging the support.

He could be excused for wondering just what the hell he's signed up for. We of course have a life sentence, without parole.

Biffa