After seeing the VAR gods intervene to help rescue a point against Tottenham last weekend, Newcastle almost slipped to an even bigger humiliation against Newport County on Wednesday night.

The Magpies fielded a strong side for their Carabao Cup encounter, and yet needed the lottery of penalties to go through at the expense of the League Two outfit.

Steve Bruce's men boasted 66% possession, but it never truly felt like they were knocking down the door and overwhelming the home side.

Instead, they fell behind in the 5th minute to a strike from Tristan Abrahams, before Jonjo Shelvey netted a last-gasp equaliser to avoid a cup-set.

One man who badly let Bruce down on Wednesday was Andy Carroll. The big man got his opportunity to start after being involved in earning the penalty against Spurs in the Premier League, and it's fair to say he didn't take his chance.

The 6 foot 4 ace just couldn't get involved in the game, and seemed to look out of place in a line-up that had diminutive and fleet-footed attackers like Ryan Fraser, Miguel Almiron and Jacob Murphy just behind him.

As per Sofascore, he made just 12 successful passes in the 62 minutes that he was on the field, at an accuracy of 50% - by far the worst of any Newcastle player.

In fact, Carroll lost the ball more times than he actually found his teammate on the night, conceding possession on 15 occasions.

It was quite telling that despite coming on for less than half an hour of action, Callum Wilson had more attempts on goal than the former Liverpool man too (3-2).

A game against a League Two side away from home, and Carroll's physical style of play, was surely a perfect match for Newcastle. Instead, it turned into an absolute nightmare. Bruce may have survived the humiliation of seeing his side exit to Newport, but Carroll's performance was the epitome of their disaster.

And in other news, Newcastle fans praised this man's performance against Spurs last weekend.