Half time:  Newcastle 2 Norwich 0

56 mins Svensson tumbled over under challenge from Ameobi and Dowd gave another spot kick. Huckerby cracked his effort past Harper, despite the stand-in 'keeper guessing correctly and flinging himself to his left - a goal for the lad on this ground at last, nearly 8 years after he left United having made only two senior appearances for us. 2-1

Full time: Newcastle 2 Norwich 1

Souness commented:

"I thought Ronny Johnsen was exceptional. Given he's not played a game of football and it's now nearly November, I thought he was exceptional.

"Titus has not played a lot as well, I thought both of them did very well. 

"Patrick Kluivert is a class act. I think people enjoy watching him play football.

"He deserves a special mention because he's not done any real hard training. The reason for that, first of all he had his problem with his hamstring so he was out for a fortnight with that, then he had his two wisdom teeth out just over a week ago and that took a great deal from him.

"He's not been able to train with the group, he's not had any real hard work and then for a good hour tonight, he was outstanding. We've got to get him fully match-fit. If you think about it, he's never been fully match-fit yet because he's not played enough games on a regular basis for this club.

"Anybody who knows anything about football will tell you that we've got very good players here. I won't be doing anything different to Bobby Robson. It's a new face and I think it always happens at a football club. A new manager comes along and the players get a lift from that.

"Training will be slightly different, my attitude to things will be slightly different. It doesn't make them better, but right now they've got a lift from it. Let's see what happens when we come unstuck, let's see how they dig in when we come unstuck.

"When you lose a game, what are you made of then? And at a club like this, there's no hiding place. If you lose games here, there's no hiding place and that will be interesting for me.

"Maybe I'll find out more. Maybe it's like life - well, I know it's like life - and you only find out about people when the going gets tough and when you're losing games, you see what they're made of."

"Some people need a lot of confidence. Some people need to be winning games and need to feel loved by the crowd, and others can do with less of it.

"If you're winning games, you're going to be confident, your crowd's going to be happy with you. But we've got a very hard programme coming up.

"We've tried to pick a team tonight and rest players with our programme in mind. We've been playing nearly every midweek, the international players have been away with their national teams, we've been travelling a great deal, eating different food, sleeping in different beds, and it all takes its toll.

"Tonight, we've got away with the team. I thought we played very well at times tonight and we got away with it. Let's see if we get away with it the next time, because what's important to us, the number one target, is trying to qualify for the Champions League next year, and that is not going to be easy."

Old new boy Ronny Johnsen told the Chronicle:

"It's always nice to get the first match under your belt. My last game was on May 27 and it was nice to be back. I've been looking forward to going out at St James' Park. I enjoyed it.

"The fitness coach, Paul Winsper, has been brilliant and hopefully I can keep it up. We haven't been playing too much together, but I think we were OK.

"As a player you try to work as hard as you can and then it's up to the manager. The team has done well over the last month or so and that's very good for us."

"Up to 2-0 we played well, after that it was a little on and off. But I felt most of the game we controlled it.

"The football going forward was unbelievable, with a little bit more luck we could have been 5-0 up but we relaxed a little bit. Also in the second half we produced some very big chances, which we could have scored and overall we controlled it."

Canaries manager Nigel Worthington said:

"Our keeper was certainly busier, there's no doubt about that, but nothing he couldn't deal with. After that, I thought it was a good game of football.

"Yes, Newcastle have got a lot of quality players and strength in depth as you saw by the people on the bench. But we had good chances. We could have had two goals in the first half and we came out second half and some of our play at times was very, very good."

Worthington singled out inexperienced defender Jason Shackell for praise, saying:

"It was a great experience for him – to play against a player of world class quality like Kluivert. And it's good for him – and I thought he dealt with it very well indeed."

City Skipper Adam Drury commented about the first goal:

"That's just the way our luck is at the moment. Someone's come across me at the near post and they've bundled it in – a real scrappy goal for us to give away. But if that had been down the other end, that would probably have been hacked off the line or whatever."

And had this to say about Kluivert:

"He's just different class."

I have to admit that the cynical side of me presumed Graeme Souness would target this trophy as his main priority for the season. Well, why not? We were 16th in the Premiership when Sir Bobby shuffled off our managerial coil and Champions League qualification even at that early stage seemed a bit of a remote possibility. People were even starting to use the phrase "relegation threatened" in the same ludicrous way that they had when Bobby took over from Gullit. Let's face it, you or I could have given Rob Lee a squad number, flattered Big Al's ego a little and taken us up to 11th in the Premiership. What followed was a great credit to Robson but I never bought into the theory that he saved us from impending doom.

So, talk of a weakened side or resting players for the visit of another Premiership club surprised me. I thought Souness would go all out to bring silverware to Tyneside in his first season and the insistence of the big Premiership sides to still treat the Carling Cup with something approaching annoyance presents a fantastic to opportunity to win a handful of games and claim a domestic trophy.

It was clear at an early stage that Souness would be resting Shearer. That taboo subject had already been addressed when Shearer and Bellamy sat out the Sakhnin home game. In fact, it seems strange to think that Bobby's dropping of Shearer for the West Brom Carling Cup game last year caused such a hullabaloo. Of course, the result gave it an unwarranted emphasis.

Souness was in a stronger position than Bobby in that he could rest his numbers 9 & 10 and bring in someone of the calibre of Patrick Kluivert to partner Shola Ameobi, Bobby had brought in LuaLua.

Laurent Robert was also given the chance to start and show his commitment to the cause and Darren Ambrose got a rare start after coming back from his pre-season injury.

But it was the changes at the back caused the most concern. Pairing the returning Bramble with new signing Ronny Johnsen had been a disaster in a recent reserve game and Norwich had penetrated our full strength back line earlier in the season easily enough. Aaron Hughes was also given a rare start and Steve Harper got a chance to dirty his gloves again.

But all the worries about a weakened side were dispelled in a first half which was at times a joy to watch. Coming forward we were able move the ball at pace and with an accuracy that would have put better sides under pressure. Kluivert's first touch was at times as good as I've seen in a black and white shirt and whatever you think of Shola, he was able play off the Dutchman with an understanding and appreciation that bodes well for the future.

James Milner down the right (and left, for a time when he switched with Robert) was complementing the front two and Robert's pace and crossing also caused the visitors all sorts of problems. The final ball is still missing from Milner but he has something that seems missing from Ambrose's game. It was in the middle of the park where we looked vulnerable, with Jenas still looking uncomfortable with a holding role. For me, he hasn't got a good enough first touch to be the engine room of the midfield, although in general he had a fairly decent game.

Our lumbering pair at the back were surprisingly not put under pressure by the pace of Huckerby with Hughes doing pretty well to keep the ex-Mag in check. Why Huckerby didn't take on Bramble and Johnsen seemed a mystery but our centre backs looked pretty comfortable throughout the game.

Johnsen received praise indeed from Souness after the game and while he showed some excellent positional sense and timing of tackles, he looked to me like a player very much in the twilight of his career. Roy Aitken isn't an unfair comparison. His lack of pace and propensity to bear-hug the Norwich forwards would be exposed horribly by the forward lines of Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United etc.

As for Bramble, again, not a bad game and he looked comfortable for most of the time but his ability to do something stupid seems to be as high as ever. It's not just the odd loose pass or his long balls that sail into the stands but he just doesn't seem to have an awareness of what's happening around him. He's got the ability to be a top defender but for some reason the whole seems to be less than the sum of the parts.

A goal after just 78 seconds was obviously a great way to settle the nerves and boost the confidence. Robert swung a low corner into the swirling wind which shouldn't really have caused any danger but it squirmed into the middle where Svensson was only able to screw his clearance and Jenas ensured the ball crossed the line before it was cleared, the linesman signalling a goal before referee Phil Dowd did.

It all contributed to the strange atmosphere that games like these have. Even though it was 10,000 short of capacity, there was a feeling of pre-season friendly about the game and an early goal, especially a scrambled one, always have a bit of an unreal feel to them. Without wanting to bring in any prurient analogies, it's almost as if you haven't had time to work yourself into a lather and the euphoria isn't quite as explosive... ahem.

However, those on the pitch seemed to be revelling in the aftermath and our forward play was as good as anything I've seen this season. Kluivert was the fulcrum and his touch and vision were world class - it reminded me of when he played at St. James' for Barcelona and to see him doing it on the same turf in a black and white shirt was heart-warming.

After 25 minutes of enthralling stuff and numerous near misses we went off the boil slightly for quarter of an hour and there was the danger that we'd only have a goal to show for a dominant first half display. But then Kluivert played in Ambrose and when he was tugged to the ground by Edworthy there was little argument over the penalty decision.

Robert had hold of the ball and seemed likely to take the spot-kick but he handed Shola the ball with some words of encouragement. Mutterings in the stands were audible but I was sad enough to remember that he had scored in two penalty shootouts pre-season. He didn't fail this time either - a low confident strike found the corner, while Green went the wrong way.

There was still time for Huckerby to go close at the other end and a Norwich header came back off the bar but going in 2-0 up at half-time should have seen the tie well and truly won. Of course, the Canaries' Premiership comeback from two-down was in the back of everyone's mind and even more so when a frankly stupid Ameobi challenge on Svensson allowed Huckerby to get one back from the spot. Steve Harper made a decent attempt to reach the kick and wasn't far off saving it.

From then on it was a scrappy affair and although we never looked in any great danger of capitulating, we didn't really look like finishing the tie off either. Ambrose missed a sitter 12 yards out and Bernard hit a stinging drive that was turned away. Substitute Craig Bellamy then rounded the keeper but couldn't turn the ball in as he tried to finish from a narrow angle.

Our goal remained intact which was just as well - any extra-time would have been played in front of a half empty stadium with an absolutely breathtaking number of early leavers. For those of us who get some sort of closure from hearing three shrill blasts at the end of the game, it made our exit all the more easy and I bet we evaded the queues of traffic that those sneaking out early were still sitting in.

The fourth round draw which took place while Bolton and Spurs were playing out extra-time wasn't too kind, pairing us with money-bags Chelsea but I'd rather play them now when they might field a weaker side than if we meet them later. It also gives us the chance to take out one of the bigger clubs, rather than them picking off lower league opposition and progressing.

Niall Mackenzie

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