on Saturday for tonight's fourth round FA Cup replay against First Division leaders Newcastle United -- which means no place for Shawn Goater's strike partner Tony Cunningham, a former Newcastle player.

Out-of-touch Cunningham, who led the Rotherham attack and helped keep them in the promotion picture while Goater was on World Cup duty, was dropped from Saturday's league game at Hartlepool. Goater played at centre forward in the 2-0 win which keeps the Millers in the top five in the Second Division standings. Cunningham and Goater were the Rotherham strikers in their home tie with Newcastle two weeks ago which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Saturday's league win will also have boosted the confidence for the replay at St. James Park, which Goater admits is going to be tough considering the home team's record this season. Inspired by manager Kevin Keegan, Newcastle have opened up a nine-point lead at the top of the table, losing just four of their 28 league games to date.

"Saturday's win was a great result and hopefully we can build on that,'' said Goater last night. "The pitch was a bit bouncy and it was a physical game, but the game had some patches of good play so the boss was happy to come away with a win.'' Rotherham have won five away matches in the league this season but this match will no doubt be their toughest away from their Millmoor Ground.

Newcastle, by comparison, have lost at home just once in 13 league games, having conceded just seven goals and scored 28.

"It's going to be a hard game but it's the FA Cup and on the day you don't know what's going to happen,'' Goater pointed out.

Rotherham, whose priorty no doubt is promotion for the second straight season, will be hoping to follow in the example set in the previous round by Hartlepool who beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup and Bolton who upset Liverpool at Anfield in the last round.

After a light training session this morning the team travels to Newcastle at around noon, arriving in the North East at about 2 p.m. They will go to a hotel near the ground to rest in their final preparation for the evening match. Rotherham, who have been allocated 3,100 tickets for their fans, leave on the return trip right after the match.

"The FA Cup is a good money spinner for clubs like Rotherham,'' admitted the Bermuda international. "They are then able to go into the market to get better players and strengthen their teams. A few clubs are struggling financially so this helps.'' The winners of tonight's replay take on Premier League team Blackburn Rovers who lost 1-2 at home to Crystal Palace in the league last night.

A waterlogged pitch forced the postponement of last night's local FA Cup replay between Devonshire Colts and Hotels at Somerset. The match has been rescheduled for tomorrow night at the same venue and the eventual winners go up against Somerset Trojans in the semi-finals. The feature match starts at 8 p.m., preceded at 6.30 by the Crystal Palace replay between North Village and PHC.

SHAWN GOATER -- "It's going to be a hard game but it's the FA Cup -- anything can happen.''