Newcastle made it through to the Third Round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, but only after a nerve-wracking penalty shootout ended with Sean Longstaff dispatching the winning kick.

The black and whites had made a perfect start when Joe Willock scored after just 18 seconds and Sandro Tonali saw his shot saved moments later as the visitors threatened to run riot. 

Forest made ten changes from the side that won at Southampton last weekend, while Eddie Howe named ten of the eleven players that ended the 1-1 draw at Bournemouth in his starting line-up.

The one new face was Tonali, included after his 10-month suspension expired the previous night and evidently in the mood to make up for lost time, to the delight of the travelling support who had welcomed him back with banners and Italian flags. "Come una nuova firma" (like a new signing...)

Reality swiftly intruded for United though; forced into a change after just 15 minutes when Willock hobbled off after tweaking his left thigh following an innocuous challenge in his own area.

Bruno Guimaraes was a fine replacement - and given the captain's armband by Kieran Trippier upon his arrival - but from then on, United lost their way and were slightly fortunate to reach half time  still ahead.

Parity was restored just five minutes after the restart though; United seemingly distracted by Alexander Isak returning to the field after treatment as Alex Moreno took a long throw-in on the Forest left and Jota Silva volleyed in via the far post at the Trent End.

As was the case at Bournemouth, United looked to the bench for inspiration and found it this time in the shape of Tino Livramento and Anthony Gordon - the former pushing forward from right back with Harvey Barnes in front of him and the latter taking over on the left flank.

As the clock began to run down Newcastle looked more menacing and half-chances began to appear; Barnes shooting into the side netting, Dan Burn nodding a corner narrowly wide and Lewis Hall and Gordon both getting shots away that Carlos Miguel was equal to.

But it remained 1-1 after five minutes of time added on and the omens didn't look good when Bruno lost both coin tosses for the shootout.

Callum Hudson-Odoi, Alexander Isak and Nikola Milenkovic all netted before Joelinton's effort was saved. Neco Williams then made it 3-1 to Forest but after finding the net, Guimaraes raised his arms, went to the sidelines and gave Pope a fist bump that seemed have an effect.

Ibrahim Sangare looked nervous and hit the bar and after a cool finish from Gordon for 3-3, Talwo Awoniyi's dreadful attempt cleared the bar and flew high into the stand - had the old Trent End terrace still existed, the ball may well have ended up in the river behind..... 

That left Longstaff the chance to clinch victory and he did it with a calm finish, prompting exuberant celebrations on and off the pitch from fans and players who sensed the significance of the victory.

Exiting one domestic cup competition in the August of a season without European involvement would have been demoralising and done nothing to aid Howe's cause. Whether papering over the cracks is an overstatement is open to question, but the awfulness of Forest's penalties got us off the hook. 

The boost to the winning penalty taker meanwhile will hopefully prove to be a timely one: regardless of the eventual outcome, Longstaff missing from the spot would have unleashed a fresh batch of internet invective.

Three games played then and we remain unbeaten without having rediscovered our fluidity and potency as yet - but providing fans with a trio of heart-stopping finales so far.  

It's never dull round here....

Biffa