Joe Willock struck twice as Newcastle came from behind to beat Birmingham City 3-2 in a pulsating FA Cup fourth-round tie at St Andrew’s.
Eddie Howe's much-changed side capped a fine week thanks to Willock's late winner, having reached the Carabao Cup final with victory over Arsenal on Wednesday.
Willock was abused on Instagram in the wake of Newcastle's 2-1 defeat home at Fulham last weekend and Howe hailed his "strong-willed" player for letting his "football do the talking".
League One leaders Birmingham pushed their Premier League visitors all the way, taking a shock lead inside the opening 40 seconds when Keshi Anderson peeled away at a corner and headed the ball across goal for Ethan Laird to fire in.
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Nick Pope produced a fine save to push away Anderson's volley before Newcastle hit back. Bailey Peacock-Farrell appeared to have made a wonderful close-range save to keep out Joe Willock but, with goal-line technology not in use in the FA Cup at grounds below the Championship, the assistant referee flagged to signal the ball had crossed the line.
And just five minutes later, Newcastle led after William Osula managed to miss an open goal from two yards, inadvertently flicking the ball up behind him for Callum Wilson, making his first start since May 2024, to stab home and spare his team-mate's blushes.
Willock had a third correctly ruled out for offside before Birmingham's dangerman Stansfield headed wide a good chance from close range.
But the hosts levelled in style when Iwata hammered an unstoppable drive into the top corner from the edge of the box to cap a wonderful half of action.
The second period couldn't live up to the standards of the first as the tie turned scrappy with Blues midfielder Marc Leonard carried off on a stretcher after he slid in on Lewis Miley while Newcastle centre-back Dan Burn limped off.
Newcastle ramped up the pressure heading into the closing stages and finally, it told when Willock slotted through the legs of Peacock-Farrell from an angle to send the visitors through.
Willock: It's not been an easy season for me
Newcastle midfielder Joe Willock told the BBC:
"I was just trying to give my best. It has not been an easy season for me, I've been waiting for my chance to push on and hopefully this is the start of the rest of my season.
"It's very exciting times. It's not an easy place to come to, but we want to thank the fans. Hopefully, we can go one better this time in the Carabao Cup [final] and far in this competition."
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe:
"I think Joe has handled himself this week really well. His response to what he suffered (social media abuse) was really admirable, really strong-willed.
"He loves his football and I think he's just concentrated on that this week and tried to put all other distractions behind him. He let his football do the talking.
"Really pleased for him because he's such a talented lad. You want to see Joe at his best, it's been a stop-start season for him but today is a big moment I think."
Howe: Injuries are the last thing we need
Newcastle manager Howe told the BBC:
"It was a tough game for us. Mentally, physically - you could see a few players were on the edge today. We're delighted to get through.
"I thought it was going to be a difficult night before the game. [The early goal] made it doubly difficult because the atmosphere in the stadium totally changed. We managed to get a foothold and did really well. At half-time, it was about staying calm. I thought we did that a lot better in the second half."
On injuries: "In the last couple of weeks we seem to have picked up a couple. It would be the last thing [we need] to derail us. We have such a small squad. Last season we had big numbers of players out and it disrupted us in the middle of the season.
"We were forced to take Dan Burn off. It was something with his groin. Fingers crossed it's not too bad."