Newcastle 0 Manchester City 2 (AET): Negredo and Dzeko set up Leicester tie as Hart watches on from bench

After their recent problems away from home, Manchester City perhaps need to learn to win ugly. On Wednesday in the North East they won so ugly they should have been wearing Halloween masks.

For an hour, Manuel Pellegrini’s team were wretched, about as ugly, in fact, as the weather.

Had Newcastle been remotely proficient in front of goal, City would be adding another bad  experience to their list of horror shows on the road.
Scroll down for video of Pellegrini on Hart and Pardew on Newcastle's performance

Game over: Edin Dzeko slots home Manchester City's second goal at St James Park

Late lead: Alvaro Negredo (right) finally breaks the deadlock by slipping the ball underneath Newcastle keeper Tim Krul

Matchwinner: Negredo reacts after finally giving City the lead in the 99th minute

All smiles: Goalscorers Negredo and Dzeko hug after the Spaniard's opening goal

Match facts

Newcastle: Krul 6, Debuchy 6, Haidara 5 (Dummett 45 5, Ben Arfa 81), Anita 7, Williamson 5, Yanga-Mbiwa 5, Sissoko 5, Tioté 5, Cissé 5, Sh Ameobi 5 (Cabaye 67 5), Gouffran 5

Subs not used: Remy, Elliot, Obertan, Sa Ameobi
Booked: Tiote

Manchester City: Pantilimon 6, Richards 6 (Zabaleta 83), Kolarov 5, Rodwell 4 (Silva 64 5), Boyata 5, Lescott 5, Navas 5, García 5, Dzeko 6, Jovetic 4 (Negredo 10 6), Milner 5

Subs not used: Hart, Nasri, Fernandinho, Demichelis
Booked: Garcia, Silva
Scorers: Negredo 99, Dzeko 105
Referee: Neil Swarbrick

Attendance: 33,846

As it was, Alan Pardew’s team lacked any kind of killer instinct here, just as they had in losing at Sunderland in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday. As a result, City grew into the game, were the better side in the final third of normal time and went on to score twice in the first half of an added period they made their own.

In a strange way, Pellegrini will be pleased on Thursday morning. Any team who are going to make it through the slog of the English season and win something need to come through difficult nights like this and go home with a result.

At times this season, City haven’t managed that. On the balance of play, Pellegrini’s team shouldn’t have lost at Cardiff, Aston Villa or indeed Chelsea in the Premier League. They did, though, and if this proves to be the night when that particular habit was broken then it will have been worth all the effort.

As is often the case in these extra-time games, the goals that eventually sealed the tie were so effortlessly simple they left you wondering why they had taken so long to arrive. Maybe Newcastle were tired, not only from their efforts in dominating the first hour but also their gut-wrenching trip to the Stadium of Light.

Whatever the case, both goals were easy on the eye. The first came in the 99th minute and was well constructed by Edin Dzeko. The Bosnian has looked a better player under Pellegrini this season and showed both dexterity and intelligence to make progress down the left and cross for Alvaro Negredo.

 

Manuel Pellegrini: I have goalkeeping decision to make

Going down: Manchester City's Javi Garcia climbs on top of Newcastle defender Massadio Haidara

Under pressure: England goalkeeper Joe Hart watches his City team-mates from the bench

Safe hands: Manchester City goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon clears the ball from a Newcastle cross

 

Alan Pardew pleased with Newcastle reaction despite defeat

Full stretch: Newcastle forward Shola Ameobi (right) prods the ball at goal during the first half

Edin Dzeko sealed Manchester City's passage to the last eight of the Capital One Cup with this goal against Newcastle - click here for more in our brilliant match zone

It’s tempting to say Negredo couldn’t miss but, given the dross both sides had produced earlier, it was always possible. This time, the Spaniard simply side-footed the ball past Tim Krul and into the goal at the Gallowgate End.

QUARTER FINAL DRAW

Leicester City v Manchester City

Stoke City v Manchester United

Sunderland or Southampton v Chelsea

Tottenham v West Ham

Ties to be played w/c December 16

The goal knocked the remaining gumption out of Newcastle. Despite Papiss Cisse forcing a brilliant save from Costel Pantilimon in the first minute of extra time, they had looked distinct second favourites going into the added period and Negredo’s goal just about put them on their backsides.

Worse was to come, too. Only six minutes more had passed when James Milner, who had a rather mixed night, tip-toed his way through a midfield morass and slipped the ball through to Dzeko. No doubt buoyed by his part in the opening goal, the City forward advanced to skip past Krul and roll the ball into the goal.

So that was that. Newcastle did give it another go in the second period of extra time and they deserve credit for that. One thing this team do not do under Pardew is give up and, had Hatem Ben Arfa’s shot not been cleared from the line by Joleon Lescott with more than 10 minutes left, then who knows what might have happened?

Over and out: City striker Alvaro Negredo blasts the ball over the bar as Mathieu Debuchy attempts to block

Warm welcome: Alan Pardew (left) greets City boss Manuel Pellegrini for the second time this season

City striker Alvaro Negredo didn't cover much ground against Newcastle - as his heat map below shows - but he still managed to score the winning goal - click here for more from our match zone

As it was, City advanced to the last eight of the competition and, for the second game running, Pardew and his players were left to wonder what might have been.
 
Certainly they should have won on Wearside on Sunday and certainly they had their chances here. Pardew may take many things from last night’s performance but he will also know that he needs to find a way to make his team more clinical.

A dreadful game for the opening half an hour finally began to come to life in the latter stages of the first half and it was Newcastle who made the running. Had they gone in at half-time with a goal or two to their name then City might have struggled to raise themselves.
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As it was, Newcastle couldn’t take any of the three chances that came their way in quick succession.

Show stopper: Newcastle keeper Tim Krul (second from left) thwarts substitute Negredo

No way through: Jack Rodwell (right) goes down under pressure from Newcastle defender Mike Williamson

First Shola Ameobi was denied by the fingertips of City reserve goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon as the Romanian dived to his left. Pantilimon had a good night on the whole and this was one of his highlights.

Then Ameobi was ruled offside when he nudged in Cisse’s cross shot — Cisse really should have scored himself — before the impressive Vurnon Anita volleyed wide after a weak Micah Richards header dropped to him on the edge of the penalty area.
The last of that trio of chances left Pardew with his hands on his head. Maybe he knew what would come later.

Strong tackle: Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (right) slides in to deny City forward Negredo

In the second half, though, Newcastle remained strong for a while. But when they needed the bounce of the ball or a bit of real quality in the final third, the home team didn’t really find it and City grew to become the game’s dominant force for the final 25 minutes of normal time.

Milner curled the ball just over an empty goal from wide on the right after Krul had been hustled into a mistake, while Negredo could have saved his team-mates the punishment of extra time had he chosen power over precision at the end of a lovely City passing move 12 minutes from the end. Krul saved his dinked chip well but shouldn’t really have been given a chance.
Once extra time began, he wasn’t.

ST JAMES' PARK MATCH ZONE

Newcastle have reached the League Cup final only once since the tournament began in 1960 — against Wednesday's opponents Manchester City. They faced them at Wembley in 1976, eventually losing 2-1.\

It was a nice touch that the club printed a souvenir edition of the match programme, with a flashback to the 1976 edition as well as interviews with some of the stars of that cup run — including club legend Malcolm Macdonald.

Hero: Malcolm Macdonald was a key player for Newcastle during the 1970s

 

Manchester City have become somewhat of a bogey side for Newcastle in recent years. Before the game the away side had won all of their last eight matches against their opponents and had scored 23 goals, an average of almost three a game. In their previous two meetings, both at the Etihad Stadium, City knocked four past the North East club.

 

If the Manchester City players thought they were in for a rough reception at St James’ Park, their fears were confirmed as they had to run the gauntlet as soon as they stepped off the team coach.

A large group of Newcastle supporters lined each side of the walkway sectioned off for them to enter the stadium and proceeded to boo and hurl abuse at them. Quite the welcome.

 

Shola Ameobi was handed a rare start last night, beating his younger brother Sammy, 21, into Alan Pardew’s first XI. Sammy was inspired by Shola, 32, but is now competing with him for a place. ‘When I was in Year 4 at school he made his debut against Chelsea and from that day on there was nothing else I wanted to do but play for Newcastle,’ Sammy said. ‘Now I am trying to rival him. He’s still a top-class professional and I would love to achieve as much as Shola has.’