Simpson Hoping Ex-Factor Strikes Again

By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Just three days after helping Newcastle to beat one of his former clubs, Danny Simpson is hoping to dump another of his old teams out of the FA Cup on Saturday afternoon.

The right-back, who has been an ever-present under Alan Pardew this season, was part of the Magpies side which put Manchester United to the sword on Wednesday, and now turns his attentions to the cup tie against Blackburn Rovers.

He spent the 2008/09 season on loan with the Lancashire outfit, who travel to the Sports Direct Arena looking for some respite from a miserable league campaign which sees them bottom of the table.

Quite the opposite is true for United, who are seventh in the Barclays Premier League, and Simpson hopes to take that impressive form into the FA Cup.

"We're looking to do well in the cup," he told nufc.co.uk. "We're not one of those teams that takes it lightly - we'd love to get to Wembley so we're going to take it very seriously.

"We need to recover from the Manchester United game now because the Blackburn game isn't far away, but they're coming to our ground which is a bonus because at least we don't have to travel.

"They'll be coming here and they've been up and down lately. They had a good result (against Manchester United) and then a disappointing result (at home to Stoke) so I'm sure they'll be looking to get back to winning ways.

"But we're at our ground and if we can play like we did against Man United, we'll beat them."

Newcastle beat Blackburn on Tyneside in the league back in September, but lost 4-3 after extra-time at Ewood Park in the Carling Cup the following month so Simpson is keen to gain some revenge for that last-gasp defeat.

"It would be nice to get a bit of payback on them," he admitted. "We gave it our best that night and it just didn't happen, but it would be nice to get our own back and move into the next round."