Blackburn 4-3 Newcastle (AET): Givet heads winner in 120th minute to settle sensational cup tie at Ewood Park

Blackburn Rovers secured a place in the quarter-finals of the League Cup with a thrilling 4-3 win over Newcastle United after scoring the winner in the last minute of extra-time.

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The hosts looked to be heading for a 2-0 victory until Newcastle scored twice in the last five minutes of normal time, Rovers once again got taking the lead in extra-time only to be pegged back again by Alan Pardew's side, before Gael Givet finally secured the win in the final seconds.

Both teams showed their intent right from the very start with their respective managers naming strong teams, but it was the hosts who got off to a flyer as Steve Kean’s men took the lead in the fifth minute.

Martin Olsson whipped in an inviting cross from the left, evading the Newcastle defence and allowing Ruben Rochina, who had previously had an effort blocked, to bury the ball past Tim Krul from near the penalty spot.

Two minutes later, the Magpies came agonisingly close to grabbing the equaliser as summer signing Demba Ba found himself one-on-one with Rovers goalkeeper Mark Bunn, but the Senegalese striker’s effort came back off the woodwork.

The home side soon created another chance as David Goodwillie’s shot across the goal was fumbled by Krul, but the ball was cleared just before Yakubu could get his foot to it.

Blackburn went close again on the 30 minute mark when Morten Gamst Pedersen tried his luck from distance, but the Newcastle stopper was equal to it, diving down to his left and punching away with confidence.

Whilst the intensity of the game faded as the interval drew near, the second half started in energetic fashion as Hatem Ben Arfa went close, getting on the end of Ba’s cross-goal header, but the Frenchman missed the target.

A few minutes later, Newcastle were again disappointed, but this time for not being awarded a penalty as the ball appeared to strike Jason Lowe on the arm, however referee Robert Madley waved play on.

       Gael force | Givet's last-minute extra-time header earns Blackburn a dramatic victory

The visitors were soon calling for a penalty again as Ba went down under the pressure of Chris Samba, but once more nothing was given, with the referee instead awarding a spot-kick in the Newcastle box minutes later.

Krul brought down Rochina to allow Yakubu to step up and double the home side's lead with 25 minutes remaining.

As the match wore on Newcastle put more emphasis on attack with Danny Simpson sacrificed for the more offensive Sammy Ameobi, but still the visitors failed to truly test Bunn in the hosts’ goal.

However, that changed three minutes into injury time as Danny Guthrie struck from the edge of the penalty area, giving Bunn little chance as the ball nestled in the back of the net.

The drama only intensified as injury time progressed and in the sixth minute of time added-on, Newcastle amazingly grabbed an equaliser as Yohan Cabaye struck his 30 yard free-kick past the helpless Bunn ensuring the match went to extra time.

After a frenetic opening period to extra-time, Blackburn took the lead once again as Pedersen beat Krul from 35 yards direct from a free-kick, although a slight deflection did appear to take the ball just past the big Dutchman.

The lead didn’t last long however as Newcastle equalised for a second time with Peter Lovenkrands winning a penalty as he went to get on the end of Ba’s saved shot, with the Dane recovering to slot home the resulting spot-kick.

It looked as though Lovenkrands’ effort was enough to take the match to penalties, but in the last minute of extra-time, Givet popped up with a well taken diving-header to send Blackburn through to the League Cup quarter-finals in dramatic fashion.