An incredible night on which an astonishing selection came together to earn a brilliant result. Every Newcastle player deserved every plaudit and every single line of praise inevitably showered on them. And regardless of the accusations that Manuel Pellegrini deserves criticism for his selection, his team of millionaires and ten internationals should have rolled over a team made up of a third choice centre-half pairing, a third (at least) central midfield three, and our fourth choice striker. But through a disciplined, dogged performance that relied in part on an exceptional goal line clearance by returning hero Ryan Taylor, Newcastle won 2-0. It could have been more, as Obertan was adjudged to have been offside in a very close call, and the was then denied a stone wall penalty. Newcastle overcame the weight of expectation to absorb (just about) all that City could throw at them, using speed and flair in the wide areas to carve City apart for two brilliantly taken goals in either half. First Rolando Aarons profited from a defensive mistake to score under Caballero and then Moussa Sissoko powered through the defence to send the 3000 travelling fans into raptures. City had some chances, hitting the post from a deflection off Coloccini, but they found Newcastle's makeshift defence too much of a barrier and in truth Rob Elliot had very little to do at all. Now, inevitably it's on to a quarter final draw against another top team. But at least it's Spurs, who have already been beaten once away, and not Chelsea. Let's see how far we can go.
