Newcastle know exactly what winning a tin pot can do for a club, writes CRAIG HOPE - and how they need the feel-good factor of more silverware

The Carabao Cup may rest lonely in the club’s trophy cabinet, but rarely will a tin pot be cherished as much by so many. That is why Howe pickled an XI full of England and Brazil internationals, and that is why a crowd of 51,706 turned up to support its defence.

A strong team - arguably stronger than the one that drew at Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday - duly produced a strong performance. A brace apiece for Joelinton and William Osula were enough to ensure safe and stylish passage to the last 16, with only three more ties to negotiate before Wembley - that is the plan they are working towards.

The memories of last season’s final against Liverpool and the victory parade in front of 250,000 are too vivid and intoxicating to be disrespected with anything other than outright commitment. The stakes are so high in this competition in these parts that you even detected some early nerves among a top-flight team decorated by 148 senior caps. It matters, and it matters more when they know what an impact progression can have on a campaign.

And how Newcastle need some feel-good after a summer clouded by Alexander Isak’s protracted departure. The storm has passed but the debris is yet to clear, evidenced by one win and just three goals from their opening five league games. Do not underestimate, then, what this will do for confidence, especially as half a dozen of the starters could feature from the off against Arsenal on Sunday.

Osula will revert to the bench, but the striker needed his goals more than any on the pitch after the collapse of a deadline-day move to Frankfurt. The young Dane is second-choice striker now with Yoane Wissa injured and Nick Woltemade needing time to adapt. There is a feeling internally that Osula staying could be a twist of fate that is reflected on favourably with time, and while it will take bigger goals than this to make that the case, it was still significant in terms of the player’s own belief.

Newcastle had taken the lead just 90 second earlier through Joelinton’s close-range tuck when his Brazil team-mate Bruno Guimaraes sent Osula clear in the 19th minute. For a striker whose erraticism is often levelled as a criticism, the finish was crisp and unerring, tucked first time beneath goalkeeper Sam Walker. His second to complete the scoring four minutes from time was a poacher’s prod at the far post.

If Osula had looked like representing the past - but could now play a surprise part in the club’s future - the pair Howe deployed at centre-back will very definitely have a big impact on the Newcastle of tomorrow. Malick Thiaw, 24, and Sven Botman, 25, were paired as a two for the first time and they would have safeguarded a fifth clean sheet of the season had Bradford veteran Andy Cook, a Newcastle fan, not come from the bench to smash a stunning consolation. Nonetheless, the £70m duo were impressive.

Joelinton’s second in the 75th minute was another tidy conversion from inside the penalty area after he was found by Guimaraes, the game’s best player. That the captain was on the pitch from first until last having not featured in the Premier League three days earlier spoke to the zeal with which Howe and Newcastle will defend the Carabao Cup. After a 70-year drought, they want to be drinking from it once more come March.