Man of the moment Nick Pope has revealed Newcastle United's pre-match pep talk from Eddie Howe after he took centre stage in the League Cup.
The England goalkeeper kept out three spot-kicks to send Newcastle through on penalties against Crystal Palace and justified Howe's decision not to switch keepers. That had been the expectation by many with Pope's name a surprise on the team sheet after Karl Darlow played in round two.
But Pope's excellence was the key factor for Howe and Newcastle can now look forward to the round of 16. Pope says that Howe had urged his players to find any way to reach the next round and his boys dug deep.
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Pope said: "From our point of view we are just happy to get through. In a bit of an ugly game, not many chances either side really and a difficult game to play in.
"Palace have always been a difficult team to play against as we found in the league a few weeks ago. It was another difficult one. Before the game we spoke about finding a way and yeah luckily we found that way."
Newcastle had never won any penalty shoot-outs at St James' Park with painful memories against Burnley and Leicester recently and going further back to Partizan Belgrade, Everton and even AFC Bournemouth back in the day.
Pope said: "I think any goalkeeper will tell you that it is no bad thing winning a shoot out. You see the optimism around the club, selling out a third round cup tie.
"The way the team is playing at the moment it was important for us to carry our momentum forward and have the next round to look forward to. We wanted to be in the hat. We look at last night at an important game but we are happy to be through."
Pope's mood should improve even more in the next 24 hours as he will be named in England's squad for Qatar. With a penalty shoot-out win behind him it may not have came at a better time.
When asked when he will find out, Pope reflected: "I'm not sure. If I remember correctly last time it was a short time, say half an hour before the actual squad announcement.
"You find out individually not the whole squad. Wait and see I suppose."
