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The Magpies were dumped out of this competition by Stevenage Borough last season as Stacy Long, Michael Bostwick and Peter Winn put their names alongside Ronnie Radford in the list of rival players that the Geordies would like to forget.

While losing to a Championship side would not be on the same scale as exiting at the hands of a League Two side, the visitors would like to keep their name out of the headlines this season (Brighton 3/1, Draw 12/5, Newcastle 10/11 @ bet365).

Newcastle (20/1 Cup Winners @ Ladbrokes) head to the South Coast still reeling from last weekend’s battering at the hands of Fulham, and more woeful defending here could easily see them heading out of the competition .

The Seagulls do boast one of the most talked about strikers outside of the Premier League, Craig Mackail-Smith, but the Scotland international (5/2 anytime goalscorer @ Paddy Power) has struggled for goals in recent months and has not hit the back of the net since the end of November. However, Will Buckley (7/2 anytime goalscorer @ bet365) is a man in form for Brighton having scored three goals in his last three games.

Meanwhile Newcastle remain without leading goalscorer Demba Ba, who is with the Senegal international team at the African Cup of Nations. In his absence United are relying on four-goal Leon Best (11/2 First Goalscorer @ BetVictor), and that just shows the lack of depth available to manager Alan Pardew when it comes to strikers.

If they are to come out on top here, it is likely to be a close score (1-0 Newcastle 11/2, 2-1 Newcastle 8/1 @ SportingBet).

Newcastle To Win By One Goal – 11/4 @ bet365