Newcastle vs Birmingham Betting Tips

Best odds:Newcastle 17/20 portland betDraw 51/20 portland betBirmingham 9/2 portland betGlen Roeder is getting a good tune out of the Toon Army now, despite his first choice back four all being on the easy list for what seems like an eternity, and with confidence high and momentum behind them, they can march onto the fourth round of the FA Cup by beating Birmingham in their replay at St James' Park tonight.The revival of Newcastle has been pretty dramatic. At the start of the season you would have been forgiven for thinking that the Tyneside club would be strong candidates for a relegation dogfight and that Roeder would have been out of a job by now. However, things are looking up, and a good run in this competition looks on the cards.Newcastle haven't yet achieved the consistency they need to elevate beyond their current mid-table berth in the Premiership, but considering that Damien Duff, Michael Owen and Charles N''Zogbia, Shola Ameobi, Olivier Bernard, Celestine Babayaro, Craig Moore, Titus Bramble and Stephen Carr are all sidelined with injuries, they are doing very well.Roeder's charges may have to manage without Scott Parker once again too, tonight, but as they demonstrated at White Hart Lane on Sunday when twice coming from behind to beat Spurs in a five-goal thriller, they are playing with a great deal of cohesion and tenacity at present, even in Parker's absence. And Obafemi Martins has found his feet now - his strike at the weekend has to go down as one of the goals of the season so far!For their part, Birmingham are going great guns in the Football League Championship - they are currently joint top with a game in hand - and it appears as though the Blues will be playing Premiership football again next season. Steve Bruce's men fought hard to force this replay when salvaging a draw at St Andrews, but, I fear, they will be overwhelmed at St James' with Newcastle's vociferous fans setting the mood.The Toon Army's victories are generally workmanlike rather than clear-cut and resounding, and these cup ties are invariable tight. However, although it's risky, my advice is to take a chance on Newcastle in the handicap result market. Indeed, -1 at 5/2 with bet365 looks pretty generous to me, especially when you consider that this bet is generally a 13/8 shot with other bookies.