20 mins: Izzet 0-1

41 mins: Cottee 0-2

Half time: Foxes 2 Magpies 0

Full time: Foxes 2 Magpies 0

Ruud Gullit said:
 
To follow

Martin O'Neill:

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Guardian match report:

If this is the best Ruud Gullit's men can muster, Manchester United reserves will have a field day at Wembley on 22 May. On a wet and windswept afternoon, Leicester took them apart with such ease it was hard to believe, until the final 20 minutes, that they were employed to play as professionals such was the poverty of their game. Two goals hardly did the home side justice.

Teams with cup finals on their minds, even those banned from talking about them, can react in differing ways. In the first half, it was difficult to work out what kind of mood Newcastle were in. Half the time, they seemed to be resting; the other half they were scurrying forward in earnest behind their twin totems Alan Shearer and Duncan Ferguson.

Perhaps the shame of five successive Premiership outings without a win intermittently pricked their pride. Leicester's home crowd, entertained beforehand by watching former hero Alan Birchenall jogging laps of the pitch for charity, appeared to care more about a single player than the visitors' team. Shearer, back on the ground where his boot made contact with Neil Lennon's head last season, was booed with every touch while the Leicester midfielder did his best to stay away from the England captain.

Leicester, reshaped after their midweek defeat by Derby, made four changes, Martin O'Neill including two full Premiership debutants in Charlie Miller and Stefan Oakes and giving French goalkeeper Pegguy Arphexad his first outing of the season. Tony Cottee was also recalled and proceeded to outshine Shearer and Co with his industry and a fine second goal after Muzzy Izzet had opened the scoring. Izzet, up front for the day, had an early shot saved before he beat Steve Harper with a low shot through a crowded goalmouth when Ruud Gullit's dodgy defence failed to clear an Oakes corner.

Shearer responded with a rising drive, pushed away for a corner, but Cottee then added Leicester's second. Collecting a pass from Steve Guppy, he ran 10 yards and then swept a 25-yard curler inside the goalkeeper's left post.

Gullit made two changes for the second half, bringing on Stephen Glass and Temuri Ketsbaia for Ferguson and Solano, in a bid to enliven his leaden team, but to little avail. Shorn of service, Shearer sulked while Ketsbaia added movement and pace around him. It looked all too easy for Leicester against forlorn opponents with f-words on their minds.

Biffa