Alan Pardew may have ended the night urging Newcastle fans to toast his team, but for much of this tie it looked as if we'd be drowning our sorrows in similar style to the Stevenage FA Cup exit.

The draw for the Second Round had sent us back to a corner of Lincolnshire that had been the venue for the lowest point of our 2009/10 Championship-winning campaign. That night, a capacity Glanford Park crowd of just under 9,000 saw the Magpies stutter to deserved defeat, as the Iron provided what we deemed "a reality check". 

Since then, Scunny have lost their boss and second-tier status, with all but one of their side also moving on. Two-goal Martyn Woolford is now at Bristol City, while Gary Hooper shares a dressing room with Fraser Forster. Gone also was much of the fervour of that night in 2009, as less than 300 more than last week's crowd for the visit of Oldham tore themselves away the from the telly. 

Those who made the trip from Tyneside were also in more benign fettle than last time - when the game ended with toon fans fighting among themselves. Aside from a brief chorus of "FCB", most of the evening's soundtrack referred to the previous Saturdays' wearyside conquest, aside from the frequent sighs that accompanied one of the tamest and most inept first halves in living memory.

Admittedly this was a Magpies XI with no experience of playing together, with Marveaux getting his first taste of English football and Gosling enjoying the novelty of being on the field when the referee blew his whistle to start a game. Ba just looked on another planet; Uranus probably.

There were enough players in the side though who had been here before and in this situation before to know that - not to mention the small matter of trying to impress the watching manager ahead of the arrival of new recruits (or not, as the case may be). 

As it was though, a skittish display was rightly punished by a 0-1 half time deficit that only Krul's agility stopped from being worse.

United opted to play with a front trio, which in reality meant that Ba wandered across the field in search of space and a pass, while Lovenkrands and Best harmlessly amused themselves somewhere in front of the home defence. The entire right hand side of the team was entrusted to Simpson, while our tactics appeared to be a sequence of sideways passes followed by a howk upfield.

To add to United's woes, Steven Taylor had to come off the bench to replace the stricken Mike Williamson, whose first competitive start ended before half time. Thankfully, Alan Pardew's side came out after the break with some fire in their bellies (and presumably bruising round their ears), creating a flurry of opportunities inside the first 15 minutes.

Once again Best and Lovenkrands wasted some excellent chances but Best looked to have levelled only to be ruled out for offside, although the decision was just as marginal as Dagnall's.

With both Haris Vuckic and Sammy Ameobi introduced to the fray, time looked to be running out for the Magpies, with the home side threatening again and forcing Krul into action. However the nerves were calmed by Ryan Taylor's free kick and the same player looked to have earned a late penalty, although his tumble under challenge was slightly over-dramatic and the referee was unmoved.

Extra-time saw the visitors lose momentum but substitute Sammy Ameobi continued to cause all sorts of problems down the United left. Best almost got on the end of a Vuckic cross but finally Shola's younger brother danced towards the Iron goal before thumping home the winning goal from the edge of the box in fine style - our first goal from open play this season.

As a relieved Alan Pardew said later, what looked like a set of negatives (injury, shooting prowess, lack of creativity) on 45 minutes had matured into a rather more positive situation by the 120 minute mark.

However the vitality and unpredictability of Ameobi junior proved to be our own X factor - something which was simultaneously encouraging (local lad makes good), concerning (he's only on a one year deal and other clubs are sniffing already) and embarrassing (for his more experienced colleagues).  

And like the opening day point and victory over the mackems, there's a concern that the final score papers over the cracks that were more than evident for vast tracts of this tie and lulls those in charge of hiring and firing into believing that everything's OK. It isn't.    

Biffa