An excellent team display at St. James' Park on Wednesday night saw Newcastle deservedly reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup for the second time in three seasons.

A memorable first half brace from Sandro Tonali trebled his Toon tally, before Fabian Schar ended the tie as a contest after being set up by the unselfish Bruno Guimaraes.

There was time for a late consolation from Yoane Wissa after Brentford belatedly came to life, but the victory was more comfortable than Eddie Howe could have expected, after his side's recent Premier League loss at the Bees.

Fielding an unchanged side from that which defeated Leicester City 4-0 the previous Saturday, United immediately went on the offensive and Joelinton quickly had a shot blocked.

The breakthrough wasn't long in coming after Nathan Collins cleared Tino Livramento's cross from the right to the edge of the area, falling for Tonali to blast a fine first-time strike into the Leazes net.

That lead was doubled two minutes before the break when Anthony Gordon's corner from the right was met by Tonali, who was off the ground when he guided another first-time effort beyond Mark Flekken.  

Joelinton played his part in that second goal by jostling with Wissa as the ball came over to create space, but the Brazilian failed to reappear after the break - the victim of a stray boot to the head earlier in the game from Collins after a scramble in the home box.

The third goal arrived on 69 minutes following another corner, Lewis Hall's shot rebounding to Guimaraes for him to roll the ball across the six yard box and Schar tap home from point-blank range. 

A Bees side who have struggled on their travels this season were curiously out of sorts for the most part; only belatedly raising their game when 0-3 down and United had made a further trio of substitutions. 

A look at the replies to Brentford revealing their line-up on social media confirmed the suspicions that the tie wasn't a priority despite the opportunity to match their best-ever League Cup placing. 

Four changes to the team beaten at Chelsea on Sunday night had become six by the quarter hour mark when Nathan Pinnock limped off - Sepp van den Berg having already pulled up in the warm-ups. 

Ben Mee and Wissa missed half-chances before the latter took Bryan Mbeumo's pass and shot past Martin Dubravka in the first of three added minutes.

That was far too little, far too late for Thomas Frank's side though, who could have easily conceded half a dozen goals, despite top scorer Alexander Isak having a quiet night by his recent standards.  

The pick of the chances saw Jacob Murphy's shot strike the Leazes goal frame before the break and Harvey Barnes whack his effort off a post at the other end, the ball somehow missing Flekken as it rebounded back behind him.  

Guimaraes and Schar were both booked for the second time in this competition and will be suspended for the semi-final first leg. Sean Longstaff however will be eligible to play after serving his one match ban and hopefully Sven Botman will be back in the squad and up to speed by then. 

Anthony Gordon and Lewis Hall also faced bans had they received cautions against Brentford, but that doesn't now apply - meaning that yellow cards for either in the first semi-final wouldn't trigger bans in the second one.

A season that looked uncertain in the aftermath of defeat at Brentford now has more of an air of calmness around it, following back to back home wins against compliant opposition. It's as well to remember though that this has been a "one step forward, two steps back" sort of season ahead of what appears to be an eminently winnable visit to Ipswich....

Tonali's goals may have hogged the headlines, but another solid display from the Italian caught the eye - his dovetailing in midfield with the supposedly incompatible Bruno genuinely encouraging. 

Biffa