"I said 'Never think it's going to be easy'. We had to work hard to kill off them, at 2-1 they still were up for it.

"Had they made it 2-2 we would have been in a tough position. We needed the third goal to kill them off. If the penalty had gone in it could have been different. I was pleased with the goals we scored.

"Over the course of the game the front three were lively, they were always a handful for them. Michael Chopra's always a goal threat as is Lewis Guy. Richard Offiong's the same."

Chopra got the first from close range after five minutes and just six minutes later Orr doubled the advantage with a shot from the edge of the box to punish slack marking by the Highwaymen defence.

Further goals looked likely as Morpeth struggled to make any impact against the full-timers, but referee Eddie King pointed to the penalty spot to hand them a lifeline just before the break.

However, Newcastle goalkeeper Adam Collin saved the blushes of his defensive colleague Peter Ramage, who had been penalised for holding, by diving to block Colin Lawton's penalty.

Lawton did get one back for the Northern League side two minutes after the restart and for a while it looked as if extra time and a replay could be on the cards. However, Chopra made the tie safe in the 77th minute when he converted O'Brien's cross.

The United striker also hit the woodwork twice in a busy night when his full-blooded approach brought him into conflict with opposition defenders on more than one occasion.

Another strike from Orr three minutes from time completed the scoring and confirmed Newcastle's place in the semi-finals of the Senior Cup.