Steve Bruce said:

"It's frustrating. We have to accept it and get on with it. It's been cruel to us. I can't do anything but the problems we had, the way we went about our work, I was delighted. 

"Defensively we've looked rock solid at Spurs and Arsenal and today. I just hope the attacking side comes now, which I think it will.

"Players are disappointed, especially the ones who missed penalties - it’s a dark and lonely place - but they can take positives out of the performance. I can’t really remember my goalkeeper making a save in the 90 minutes.

"The injury problems have been huge for us and I’ve been forced to make changes with the injuries we picked up at the weekend. The team we put out, after seven changes, I thought were terrific in their work.

"It’s disappointing, with the changes we had to make and we’ve lost two or three players out there tonight. A very good Leicester team but there was nothing in the game at all.

"The challenge on Matt Ritchie - if VAR was in operation today, it was a red card; it was a horror challenge. The referee missed a blatant red card - and he was five yards away.

"He’s in a mess, Matt Ritchie, at the moment. We hope he hasn’t done ankle ligaments but it certainly looks that way. He’s got cuts where he needs stitches and two or three wounds on his leg."

(Bruce revealed pre-match that he'd been a ball boy at Wembley in February 1976, when Newcastle lost 1-2 to Manchester City in what remains our only League Cup Final appearance. Sitting a few rows behind him in the Milburn Stand was our centre forward that day, Malcolm Macdonald.

Jonjo Shelvey - who also missed in our last penalty shootout, at Hull City in 2016:

"I just want to apologise to the fans for missing the penalty because it was a shocking penalty on my behalf and I don't think I'll be taking any more."

Saint Brendan ducked post-match media duties, leaving assistant boss Chris Davies to comment: 

"Yes, job done. I think our line-up was a sign of our intent. We wanted to come up here and win the game and get through to the next round and it took us penalties to do it, but it was a good night.

"Newcastle played a 5-4-1 shape, which is what they’ve been doing recently and against Spurs at the weekend, so it was a case of us trying to break them down for most of the game.

"Although we had a lot of controlled possession, we didn’t create an awful lot, we didn’t penetrate an awful lot, but at the same time we didn’t give hardly anything away.

“The game pattern was exactly how we expected it and we knew it could go to penalties because with it being at the end of 90 minutes, we were prepared for that as well. We practiced penalties yesterday, in preparation for that, and thankfully that helped us.

"It’s the pressure penalties, you can’t prepare so much for them, but you can certainly pick your side and work on that technique and that’s what you’ve got to try and focus on and block out everything else.

"It’s easier said than done, but they were good penalties. We obviously only missed one but sometimes the ‘keeper guesses the right way.

"James Maddison with his clever penalty as well, which came off, so that was great. Obviously Vards being our final taker in that pressure moment to win it for us, it was a really good penalty.”

Wednesday night saw Newcastle exit the League Cup at the first hurdle for a third successive season, eliminated on penalties following a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes.

Kasper Schmeichel was the Foxes' hero; blocking spot kicks from Jonjo Shelvey and Isaac Hayden before Jamie Vardy blasted home the decisive penalty, adding yet another entry to our scandalous shootout record in the process.

A much-changed side including senior debutant Matty Longstaff trailed to a 34th minute free kick that James Maddison took but Matt Ritchie unfortunately and unwittingly got a crucial touch.
 
It was a bad night for Ritchie, who was booked before limping off with suspected ankle ligament damage after a challenge from Hamza Choudhury that saw the Foxes player lucky to just be booked. That came just on half time and significantly, Choudhury was replaced before the second half.

There were to be further injury concerns for Steve Bruce, with both Emil Krafth and Jetro Willems forced off during the second half - meaning that he was unable to alter his midfield and curtail Shelvey's contribution, something that was to prove significant.  

Although they initially tried to play on the deck, Newcastle sadly resorted to pumping fruitless high balls to the diminutive Yoshinori Muto - something exacerbated by the loss of Ritchie, who was playing as a number 10 but running around the pitch like a human dynamo.

For the second time in four days, Christian Atsu was hastily prepared to come off the bench and on those occasions when we did threaten the final third, formed a front trio with Muto and Matty. For any devotees of Father Ted, this threatened to become a "far away cows" moment.....  

It was difficult to see where an equaliser would come from, but just eight minutes into the second half one appeared: Willems attempting to win a penalty by flinging himself to the floor - and managing to divert a cross into the path of Muto, who did the rest.

Scoring opportunities at both ends were in short supply, but the returning Ayoze Perez - inexplicably booed by home fans - came close to scoring in both the opening and closing seconds of the tie.

Less than 20 seconds were on the clock when he burst into the area only for his shot to be blocked and the game was in second half added time when the Spaniard's effort grazed the crossbar.  

With extra time now dispensed with, the tie went straight to penalties and City's Christian Fuchs scored before Muto leathered his home stylishly.

Maddison then chipped his spot kick home - stifling cheers from those in the Gallowgate End who initially thought he'd cleared the crossbar. A rotten effort from Shelvey then handed the initiative to Leicester before Youri Tielemans gave Darlow absolutely no chance for 1-3.

Next up was Fabian Schar with a calm low finish before Darlow denied Harvey Barnes to raise hopes that our long-running record of home shootout failures could finally be about to end. Reality sadly intervened though, as Hayden made a hash of his and Schmeichel claimed it. 

And that miss was to be our fourth and last penalty of the night, Jamie Vardy finding the corner of the goal with Darlow close to reaching it - but not close enough. 

City's reward in the Third Round draw was an unenviable trip to Championship side Luton Town, with that Kenilworth Road tie scheduled for the midweek before we go to Leicester in the league.

So, another League Cup exit ends in the school holidays, amid grumbles about our alleged tilt at the cups proving to be nothing of the sort.

This was a pig of a draw - the only all-Premier League tie of the round - and it's difficult to be too critical of the side selected following the efforts of Sunday and another vital league game looming.

In addition to the injuries and ailments sustained at Spurs, our lack of striking options severely limited what could be achieved here - Muto the last man standing, Ritchie a makeshift number 10 and Atsu the nearest thing to a forward on the bench.

With Andy Carroll and Dwight Gayle nowhere near available and concerns over the length of time that Allan Saint-Maximin will be out, to have fielded Joelinton would have been beyond brainless. There's a bigger picture element to this about recruitment and the U18 and the U23 sides, but that can hardly be laid at the door of the Head Coach.

This wasn't a side picked to lose, unlike those selected by Rafa Benitez including the likes of Curtis Good and Yasin Ben El-Mhanni. And save for the complete absence of a goal threat and some passing and control that was painful to watch, this was one of our more enjoyable League Cup ties - that's how desperate our record in cup competitions has become. 

In terms of the penalties, sadly we've seen it all before with the glorious exception of one night at Watford in 2006. That several of our previous home failures took place with Alan Shearer in the side makes the fact we've never, ever won one at SJP even more ridiculous.

Regardless of the outcome though, tonight was a success for 19 year-old midfielder Matty Longstaff, who didn't look out of place in his first senior competitive game. Far better to see a prospect get a go than the likes of Jack Colback dragged out of obscurity simply to make the numbers up.   

Biffa