DELIGHTED Graeme Souness last night urged his Newcastle players to take a leaf out of Chelsea's book, by making 1-0 their scoreline of choice between now and the end of the season.

The Magpies booked their place in the last eight of the FA Cup at St James' Park yesterday, with Patrick Kluivert's fourth-minute header ending Jose Mourinho's hopes of achieving an unprecedented quadruple in his first season in English football.

The win was the second 1-0 success of Souness' tenure - the first came against Panionios in Athens four months ago - and, while the style of Newcastle's play has come in for some criticism this week, the Scot was in no mood to make apologies for a scoreline normally associated with flair-free football.

Chelsea won seven of their first 17 games this season 1-0 but, after grinding out results in the first three months of the campaign, Mourinho's side gradually gained the confidence to express themselves more creatively.

Souness accepts that Newcastle's supporters will always demand excitement but, with his rebuilding programme still in its formative stage, the Scot is looking to get the foundations right first.

"I think Chelsea are a great example of what you can achieve," said the Magpies manager. "At the start of the season, they were being criticised for being dull to watch because they were winning 1-0 all the time.

"But they started to get confidence from winning like that and started to score goals on top of winning 1-0.

"Suddenly they were winning well in games, and you're going to get more confidence from winning 1-0 than winning 3-2 or 4-3.

"We've only lost one of our last ten games - and that was away to Arsenal. But we're guilty of not winning enough games 1-0 and not defending well enough at vital times. We have to learn to win 1-0."

Yesterday's 1-0 win was due, in no small part, to the inspirational defending of much-maligned centre-half Titus Bramble.

The former Ipswich defender was at fault for Heerenveen's opener on Thursday but, back on home soil, he produced the kind of dominant display that makes talk of an international call-up appear justified.

Mateja Kezman was restricted to one first-half shot that rattled the crossbar while substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen, so often Newcastle's nemesis in the past, was rendered impotent after the break.

"Titus had a bit of a stinker on Thursday night in Heerenveen," said Souness. "He will admit as much himself. But, before that, he had been arguably our best player in the previous six games.

"Some people might laugh at this but, on his day, Titus is as good as anyone you want to name.

"He's got everything. He's a big powerful man, he can pass it and he's quick. In seven out of the last eight games he's been outstanding."

Bramble's performance proved pivotal, but Newcastle were also indebted to a large slice of luck that left Chelsea playing with ten men for all but two minutes of the second half.

After making three substitutions at half-time, Mourinho looked on in horror as full-back Wayne Bridge was stretchered off following an innocuous tackle from Alan Shearer.

"We enjoyed the bit of luck that was going," said Souness. "But I've sat here feeling sorry for myself on many occasions this year. I'm certainly going to enjoy it when the luck's on our side."

Mourinho conceded that his side had been unfortunate, but admitted that Newcastle had been in exactly the same boat when they lost 4-0 at Stamford Bridge earlier this season.

"I don't think the result is a fair one," said the Chelsea boss. "But I have to be fair and say that, when we played Newcastle at Stamford Bridge, they played better than us in the first half but we still beat them 4-0. That wasn't fair on Newcastle - but that's football.

"I take responsibility for the defeat. I made three substitutions at half-time because I thought I had to do something to change the game. It obviously had an effect when Wayne got injured so soon."

Newcastle have European considerations of their own this week with Heerenveen travelling to Tyneside for the second leg of their UEFA Cup tie on Thursday but, before then, the Magpies will be eager to find out who they face in next month's FA Cup quarter-finals.

With the likes of Leicester, Brentford and Nottingham Forest still in the hat, today's draw could leave United eyeing the last four.

"All we ask for is a home draw," said Shearer, who could yet enjoy an emotional swansong to his playing career.

"That's all we wanted after the last round - we got a hard draw but we got through.

"It was a huge win for us - I can't stress how important it was. That was the biggest win of the season by some distance."

Read more about Newcastle United FC here.