FABRICE PANCRATE has already missed the birth of his third child this week and hopes to have convinced manager Chris Hughton he doesn’t deserve to be absent again, this time for Newcastle United tonight.

Hughton has threatened to tear up the team sheet he had in mind for tonight’s FA Cup third round replay with Plymouth because of the weather freeze.

He is keen to hand many of his first team players an opportunity to get some action after the postponement of Saturday’s trip to Reading.

That means the likes of Pancrate, who has spent most of his time as a Magpies player on the bench, could miss out on the starting role Hughton had been looking to hand him against Argyle.

But the 29-year-old hopes his impressive show of commitment following the birth of his first son, Ysiah, on Monday will have helped force his way into the manager’s thinking tonight.

After being delayed in his attempts to see the birth, a disappointed Pancrate arrived in Paris and spent a short time with his family before jetting back to Newcastle on Monday night to prepare for the visit of Plymouth.

“I am very happy at becoming a father again. It is impossible to feel better than I do at the moment,” said Pancrate. “My baby was born in France – he was not born a Geordie because my wife was already heavily pregnant when I left France to sign for Newcastle.

“I will bring my family over to Newcastle soon, I have found a house over here and I am looking forward to settling down. First we must make sure everything is OK – his health and everything else – and then they will come over to this country.

“I was back in France on Monday to see my baby boy but because of the snow and the bad weather everything was delayed. I was still in the airport when my wife gave birth, it was just unlucky.

But then I flew back in the evening so I could play in the Plymouth game if picked.”

Pancrate was guilty of wasting numerous decent opportunities to put Newcastle into the fourth round of the FA Cup at Home Park on January 2 – a far cry from the afternoon he became a hero with the fans for his wonder goal against Watford almost a month earlier.

But having been brought up watching the FA Cup from his Parisien roots as a schoolboy he has dreamed of becoming a hero in the competition, hopefully starting tonight.

“I watched the FA Cup all the time in France. It is a big tournament over there, it is on TV in France. There are a lot of big moments in the Cup and everyone wants to play in it,” he said.

“I remember Eric Cantona’s goal in 1996 (FA Cup final) for Manchester United.

A last minute goal against Liverpool – it was a brilliant goal. It was the only goal of the game and it was brilliant.

I was in my living room with my family and my dad watching it on TV. It was one of his last games. He was the King.”

Whether he will be given the chance to try to atone for failure to find the net at Plymouth will rest with Hughton tonight.

The Newcastle boss will not play his strongest team but he is looking to field an XI with enough experience to wrap the tie up without extra time.

He had been toying with the idea of playing Tim Krul, Tamas Kadar, Nile Ranger, Ryan Donaldson and Ben Tozer, but is having to think again ahead of next Monday’s visit of promotion rivals West Brom.

“I think the fact we had the game called off on Saturday, and because we also have a few extra days until the West Brom game which is on the Monday night, it will have a bearing on the team we put out against Plymouth,” said Hughton, who has made no progress in his attempts to land Leeds striker Jermain Beckford in the last 24 hours.

“There are a few players in the squad who haven’t played a game in a while. The fact training has been disrupted to a degree, even though we have coped quite well because of our indoor pitch, the fact we have a game on Wednesday night is probably a good thing. We still don’t see this competition as a distraction, absolutely not.”

Captain Alan Smith has recovered from an eye injury and is in contention to start; meaning Joey Barton is the only player still on the casualty list. He is not expected to return until the first week in February.

NEWCASTLE (probable): Harper; Simpson, Taylor, Coloccini, Enrique; Pancrate, Nolan, Butt, Guthrie; Lovenkrands, Carroll.