Newcastle 1-0 Wimbledon: Magpies need penalty to exit League Two after Carabao Cup match moved due to significant damage to pitch following heavy rain

A year ago, Newcastle defeated Paris Saint-Germain here in the Champions League 4-1. This was a victory after all, but champagne football it was not. A lack of energy in the energy drink cup, more like.

Incredibly, the attendance of 51,739 was just 270 short of the number of lucky souls who saw their team dismantle the French champions. That was an evening for all ages. This was a night to make you grow older.

It took a home penalty in first-half stoppage time to break the boredom, and without it the draw might have gone to penalties.

Newcastle had been slow and sideways until that point, and Wimbledon watched with pleasure as they went about it.

But after a clumsy short corner, an equally clumsy challenge from Joe Piggot on Miguel Almiron gave skipper Fabian Schar the chance to score from twelve yards.

Eddie Howe’s men got an opener after Miguel Almiron went down in the penalty area before centre-back Fabian Schar (left) sent the penalty

The Swiss star made a quick jump as he took the penalty to give the Magpies the lead

He scored from double that distance against PSG and the Newcastle captain was never going to miss here. He rolled home, just as he had done for Switzerland in the shootout defeat to England at this summer’s European Championship.

Eddie Howe tried to improve matters by bringing on Bruno Guimarães at half-time and Anthony Gordon on the hour mark, and their arrival accelerated the move.

But while the slim lead remained, there were nerves in black and white on the rare occasions their League Two visitors ventured forward.

Nevertheless, Newcastle advances to the fourth round, where a home match against Chelsea awaits.

That will feel like a greater opportunity and with it a greater achievement will undoubtedly be found. It must be so, as the Carabao Cup offers Newcastle’s best chance of ending its seventy-year wait for a domestic trophy.

But 12 months after PSG, this all felt light years away from the heady nights of the Champions League.