Newcastle United defeated Nottingham Forest 4-3 on penalties to book their place in the third round of the EFL Cup after a 1-1 draw at the City Ground. (More Football News)
Sean Longstaff struck the winning penalty after Taiwo Awoniyi blazed over for the home side.
Debutant Carlos Miguel had earlier saved from Joelinton to hand Forest the early advantage in the shootout but Ibrahim Sangare struck the crossbar to bring Newcastle back into the shootout.
Joe Willock’s goal, one of the earliest in the competition’s history, had handed Eddie Howe, who handed a start to Sandro Tonali following his return from a long ban, a dream start in normal time.
Forest improved markedly after the break and equalised through Jota Silva’s thumping effort.
The visitors looked the likelier to score towards the end of the tie, with Dan Burn going close from a corner and Harvey Barnes hitting the side netting with a thrashing effort.
Despite Forest holding the advantage in the shootout with Miguel's save, it was later squandered by poor misses from Sangare and especially Awoniyi, leaving Longstaff to knock home the winning penalty for the Magpies.
Data Debrief: Willock's goal tough to beat
Willock's goal 18 seconds into the match is, as would probably be expected, the quickest goal in the EFL Cup this season so far.
Newcastle got it done the hard way after their rapid start, though Howe will no doubt feel his team were the better side, seeing them have more shots (14 to 12) and accumulated over double the amount of expected goals (xG), with 1.92 to Forest's 0.91.
