Pardew apologises for upset

Manager Alan Pardew was left to apologise for Newcastle's performance as they suffered an FA Cup giant-killing at the hands of Stevenage.

The Premier League side were humbled by their League Two hosts as a Mike Williamson own-goal and additional strikes by Michael Bostwick and Peter Winn created one of the greatest fairytales in the competition's history.

A long-range Joey Barton effort had given Newcastle hope in injury-time before Winn scored, but the St James' Park club deserved to lose to their less illustrious opponents.

Pardew, who believed the Christmas programme had exhausted his players, said: "The physical side of Stevenage's game was a problem for us all night.

"I can only say we are sorry for the result and for the performance because it was the performance level which was the problem tonight.