Eddie Howe has spoken of his relief after Newcastle United squeezed through on penalties against Crystal Palace.
The Magpies drew 0-0 over 90 minutes before Nick Pope helped United through to the last 16. with three saves in the shoot-out. After the game Howe said: "It's exciting for everyone at the end, although not good for our health, but happy to get through.
"We know we can play much better than that but there are reasons, many of those playing haven't had much gametime.
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"Credit to Palace they defended deep and made it difficult.
"We wanted to win to keep that momentum and we want to go as far as we can in the cup."
Despite the scrappy nature of the contest Howe was just happy to still be alive in the competition. He said: "The most important thing is that you’re in the hat for the next round."
And on a night in which several changes were made Howe reflected: "A lot of the players hadn’t played for a long period of time. I thought they gave everything, but we weren’t particularly fluid in our play.
"We improved with the introduction of the substitutes, but we couldn’t force a goal in normal time."
