Half time: Owls 0 Magpies 0

52 mins: George Byers' turn and change direction in the centre circle, leaving Sean Longstaff and Elliot Anderson trailing in his wake. Byers played in Liam Palmer on the right hand corner of the area and his first-time pass infield took Jamal Lewis out of the equation.

Heading towards the byline with Sven Botman in attendance, Dennis Adeniran instead squared it for Josh Windass to hit home from close range at the Leppings Lane End, the scorer shadowed by Jamaal Lascelles for no great purpose.

Half-hearted appeals for offside from visiting players proved to be correct but the linesman somehow missed it which meant that the goal stood with no VAR in operation here (although other Third Round ties were VAR'ed). 0-1

65 mins: A scrappy interlude in the centre of the field saw Joelinton win a header that fell to Bruno a short distance away. He tried to nod it back into the path of Joelinton, but the ball bounced off his leg and diverted it to Michael Smith.

The Toon-supporting native of Wallsend played a slide rule pass that bisected defensive duo Lascelles and Botman as Windass advanced, confidently firing his shot beyond the advancing Dubravka from just inside the box. 0-2

69 mins: Kieran Trippier's corner from the Newcastle left was flicked on by Chris Wood and when Dawson pushed the ball out, Bruno Guimaraes allowed it to bounce off his left calf before flicking it over the line with his other foot from barely three yards out. The Brazilian was standing in an offside position but the linesman failed to spot that.

The scorer sprinted back to the halfway line for the restart, bellowing in the direction of the away support in an attempt to rouse them 1-2

Full time: Owls 2 Magpies 1

"It's one of the proudest moments in my managerial career.

"I'm really pleased for everybody at the club and I'm delighted for the players. We were up against a really good team and put in an excellent performance.

"We knew we had to perform on and off the ball, and the way we went about it was spot on. We believe we can score goals, we got them, and then were resolute to the onslaught at the end.

"We didn't allow them to settle into their rhythm and that gave us some hope in the game. I thought every one of them did well. Josh will get the headlines but Cameron pulled off a couple of great saves.

"You know you're going to get tested against teams like this so your keeper has to concentrate and be in the right place when needed, and he was.

"It shows the FA Cup is still alive. We spoke before the game about what it brings, two clubs together in the pyramid, it was an excellent cup tie and I am really pleased the game lived up to what it was on paper.

"Sheffield Wednesday against Newcastle, both teams on a good run in their respective leagues.

"What pleased me most was that we had a game plan that we had been working on in the week, it was to engage them high up the pitch, not sit back and allow them to pick us off. It was a brave decision by us and it worked.

"Josh Windass will get the headlines, it was two exceptional goals. But I thought overall it was a solid performance."

(Moore was assisted by current NUFC coach Graeme Jones during his time in charge of West Bromwich Albion back in 2018). 

Tin foil FA Cups swiftly returned to dusty shelves on Saturday night, as Newcastle were eliminated from that competition at the first hurdle by League One opposition for a second successive season.

A live BBC TV audience saw Eddie Howe make eight changes to the starting line-up that drew at Arsenal the previous Tuesday; only Joelinton, Sven Botman and Sean Longstaff retained from the Emirates effort.

What followed was unsurprisingly patchy, as a side with a makeshift feel and no discernible pattern of playing struggled to unpick a confident Owls side who were unbeaten in their previous 17 outings.

There was a recall for goalkeeper Martin Dubravka fresh from his fruitless loan spell at Manchester United, while striker Alexander Isak made a welcome return after missing the last 13 league and cup games due to injury.

The Swede saw one early header flick off Cameron Dawson and was denied again later by the goalkeeper, before going off as planned after his first 45 minutes since September. 

The opening goal came seven minutes into the second half; Josh Windass continuing his recent scoring streak with a close-range finish that should have been ruled out for offside but wasn't - no flag coming and no VAR system in place for this tie.

Attempting an instant response, Anderson saw his close-range shot ping off Dawson's boot. A delay while the apparently lame Ritchie limped off was then followed by the arrival of Miggy Almiron, Joe Willock and Bruno Guimaraes from the bench - Ritchie inexplicably staying on.

Wednesday's second goal soon after saw Kieran Trippier introduced - on the first anniversary of his arrival from Atletico Madrid. He had an instant effect, taking a corner that ended up in the net via Bruno, also offside but also not penalised.

Game on - or so it seemed - but United's late pressure failed to force an equaliser; Wood guilty of the biggest howler when ballooning his shot over the crossbar after fine approach work from Joelinton.

At the other end, Windass came close to an improbable second treble in as many games when his 74th minute free kick cannoned back off the crossbar.

Six minutes of added time brought no second away goal that would have added a replay to our commitments. Given our current squad shortcomings though, that may not be a bad thing.

Those players rotated in tonight gave a persuasive account of the shallowness beyond the first XI - due perhaps in part to our rapid transition from Premier League strugglers to front runners.

It's evident that the likes of Matt Ritchie and Jamal Lewis have little or nothing to offer other than a reminder of what we were. The squad upgrades mean that there's now clear daylight between the two groups of players.

Time sadly also seems to be catching up with Jamaal Lascelles, while Jacob Murphy and Wood remain profligate when the ball is actually moving.

A lack of game time is part of the issue but how does one get that, when reserve team football is slanted firmly towards the development of Academy graduates? Only Javier Manquillo looks to be able to slot straight in from a standing start: the Spaniard our main provider in the first half.

Elliot Anderson's display gave no indication of any progression and he would surely benefit more from the regular game time that a loan move for the rest of season would provide. The arrival of 18 year-old Garang Kuol puts him in danger of losing the tag of "next big thing" round here (although if that silences those inane "Geordie Maradona" chants that would be a positive).

Ryan Fraser meanwhile occupied a bench role but again played no part - his last pitch time back in October. An early exit looms, if anyone will stump up the cash for him.

As one avenue to Wembley closes, attention quickly switches to a slightly more realistic one with victory over Leicester City in the League Cup next week would set up a two legged Semi-Final.

If nothing else, Newcastle are now aided by not playing an FA Cup Fourth Round tie between those two League Cup tests. West Ham's progress in the FA Cup removed any faint chance that our outstanding PL game against them could have been wedged in that weekend.

A first semi-final in that competition since 1976 though presumes that we can end our three game winless streak when the Foxes visit Tyneside this coming Tuesday.

At least we should start with a stronger side as a result of this misadventure, but the fact that the big hitters ended up on a salvage mission here does pose the question why we couldn't kick off at full strength instead. It's not as if penalty kicks were going to be a factor in this game.

Having declared his desire to compete for them and filled the training ground with reminders of our long trophyless run, a second cup disappointment in as many games for Howe would be damaging, despite the progress made so far this season.

PS: Our post-match headline of "Howe's Owls howler" wasn't universally received in the spirit it was written, some readers quick to accuse us of harbouring heretical thoughts about wor Eddie.

Not being on anyone's payroll, we do reserve the right to express our disappointment periodically, but that has rightly been far exceeded by positive comments here about him and his team in the last 15 months.

Tonight was an untimely throwback to a previous era of frustration and inadequacy for the black and whites. For those of us of a certain generation they are familiar colours to wear, but anyone like Howe who actively tries to alter that narrative can count on our full support.

Niall/Biffa