IT was a Carabao Cup gamble that almost paid off for Steve Bruce.

Despite making seven changes for the second round of a competition he says he wanted to win, this was a night when Newcastle United could quite easily have progressed at the expense of well-fancied Premier League rivals Leicester City.

Even though Leicester, whose manager Brendan Rodgers opted against fielding a weaker team on Tyneside, went through it took a penalty shoot-out to separate the two after the Magpies fought their way back into this tie.

Despite falling behind to James Maddison’s deflected free-kick in the 34th minute, Newcastle levelled things up early in the second half when Yoshinori Muto was rewarded for a hard-working performance in the final third with his second goal for the club.

The Japan international, with his first of 2019 and only start since Boxing Day, had then lifted the majority of the 22,727 crowd – the lowest at St James’ Park since Cheltenham’s visit in the competition three years ago, but third biggest of the round – to believe they could win.

But in the end it was Leicester who succeeded from 12 yards, when Jamie Vardy converted Leicester’s crucial fifth penalty after seeing Kasper Schmeichel save Jonjo Shelvey and Isaac Hayden’s efforts either side of Harvey Barnes being denied by Karl Darlow.

With more than half the seats empty, and a Newcastle team full of changes from that which won at Tottenham in preparation for the visit of Watford on Saturday, it was easy to have suggested a full-strength Leicester would have fancied their chances even more. It was never as routine as that.

It looked like that would be the case when within 15 seconds of the first whistle Ayoze Perez almost scored against the only other English club he has played for.

Just months after his £30m switch from Tyneside, the Spaniard saw a shot blocked by former team-mate Ciaran Clark when he looked like scoring, following some excellent wing play by full-back Ricardo Pereira.

There were a couple of other quick-fire moves that didn’t result in much danger being caused to Darlow, recalled for the competition to give Martin Dubravka some rest. It looked, though, like it would be a busy night for the home side.

But there was a distinct lack of intensity about the game, despite the sight of both Bruce and Rodgers appearing regularly in the technical area in a bid to lift things.

The closest Newcastle were to scoring in the opening half was when Shelvey fired an early free-kick from 30 yards high and wide after a decent move down the left ended with teenager Matty Longstaff, on his full debut, drawing a foul deep in the Leicester half.

Just when it seemed the game had dropped to pedestrian tempo, a free-kick at the other end left Newcastle with a bigger battle on their hands 11 minutes before half-time. Shelvey, who was not at his best during that opening period, was the culprit, bringing down Youri Tielemans.

Maddison, the hugely talented creative midfielder signed from Norwich last year, struck from 25 yards towards goal and just when Darlow seemed to have it covered, the ball changed direction off the head of Matt Ritchie - who later had to go off through injury following a lunge from Hamza Choudhury - and flew into the centre of the net.

Ritchie and Longstaff, playing behind lone striker Muto, were the men who looked most like making Newcastle tick, and were involved whenever the black and white shirts did move forward.

One of those advances ended with lively Jetro Willems, popping up deep in the Leicester half, creating space for himself to send in a fine delivery but Muto couldn’t get his head on it. Wing-back Emil Krafth’s volley at the back post was blocked.

Muto, included from the start to give Joelinton a rest, had the unenviable task of trying to cause problems on his own, often in the air, with powerful centre-backs Wes Morgan and Caglar Soyuncu operating behind him.

It might not have been the easiest of nights for him but he was still in the right place eight minutes after the break to level things up. Fabian Schar deserves enormous credit for his quick-thinking in the build-up.

The Swiss defender’s wonderful cross-field free-kick in behind Pereira was perfect for Willems, who chested down and fell to the floor. There were shouts for a penalty but there didn’t need to be as Muto was on hand to side foot beyond Schmeichel.

Perez had a few chances to put Leicester back in front, but overall the Foxes – with England striker Vardy barely given a look at goal before his winning spot-kick – struggled to break down a resilient Newcastle backline in which Darlow did what he had to do when called upon.

Newcastle saw Shelvey test Schmeichel from 35 yards with an ambitious drive but Bruce’s side didn’t test the Danish goalkeeper anywhere near enough in the closing stages. In the end, though, penalties were required and Leicester went through.

MATCH STATS

Goals: Maddison (34, 0-1); Muto (54, 1-1)

Penalties: Fuchs (0-1, scored); Muto (1-1, scored); Maddison (1-2; scored); Shelvey (1-2; saved); Tilemans (1-3; scored); Schar (2-3; scored); Barnes (2-3; saved); Hayden (2-3; saved); Vardy (2-4; scored)

Bookings: Soyuncu (19, foul); Choudhury (44, foul); Morgan (45, foul)

Referee: Tim Robinson (Sutton-in-Ashfield) 6

Attendance: 22, 727

Entertainment: **

NEWCASTLE UNITED (3-4-2-1): Darlow 7; Schar 7, Fernandez 7, Clark 6; Krafth 6 (Manquillo 51, 5), Hayden 6, Shelvey 6, WILLEMS 7 (Dummett 78); Ritchie 5 (Atsu 45, 5), M Longstaff 6; Muto 6. Subs (not used): Dubravka (gk), Ki, Lascelles, S Longstaff.

LEICESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel 6; Pereira 6, Morgan 6 (Evans 57, 5), SOYUNUCU 7, Fuchs 5; Choudhury 5 (Praet 46, 5), Tielemans 6; Barnes 5, Maddison 6, Perez 5; Vardy 5. Subs (not used): Ward (gk), Justin, Gray, Albrighton, Mendy.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Jetro Willems – impressive in an attacking sense on a night when defensively Newcastle looked the part again too.