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