Newcastle and Ryan Taylor reborn as Man City crisis looms

Manchester City 0 Newcastle United 2. Alan Pardew silenced his growing band of critics in the best possible fashion by guiding his Newcastle side to victory over League Cup holders Manchester City at the Etihad. Goals in each half from Rolando Aarons and substitute Moussa Sissoko moved the Magpies into the quarter-finals (and a clash with Tottenham, who beat Brighton 2-0 in their fourth round tie) and took Newcastle a step nearer their first cup triumph since the 1955 FA Cup Final when, co-incidentally, they beat City 3-1 in the final.

Newcastle saw off Spurs in the Premier League last weekend and victory over the Sky Blues was further evidence that the Magpies might have flown through the early-season storm and better weather now lies ahead.

Pardew believes so. The Newcastle manager has endured a lot of criticism this season after a poor start to the league campaign, but the 53-year-old was in bullish mood after overseeing Newcastle's first win at the Etihad in 12 visits. "I know what I'm doing," he reassured supporters, some of whom have set up a 'Sackpardew.com' website to protest that their manager still has a job. "I think I've had most of the scalps as Newcastle manager, maybe except Arsenal and I look forward to playing them next."

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Pardew was quick to dedicate Wednesday's win to the supporters, declaring: "This was a victory for our fans. It's important for us that we just keep this momentum going."

The toast of Tyneside today is Ryan Taylor, who made his first appearance for Newcastle in over two years following a long recovery from a cruciate ligament injury. The 30-year-old winger was one of several changes to a Magpies side that was inferior on paper to the XI that beat Tottenham in the league last weekend.

Playing his first senior game since August 2012 Taylor was soon back in his stride, providing an assist for teenager Aarons to open the scoring after just six minutes, it was Newcastle's first goal against Man City in six games. City could have levelled in the first half but Newcastle keeper Rob Elliot pulled off a great save to deny Stevan Jovetic. Newcastle then doubled their advantage 15 minutes from time when Sissoko fired home.

"We did not play well," admitted City manager Manuel Pellegrini, after experiencing his first defeat in the League Cup. "We didn't move the ball in the way we normally do and we were conceding goals too easily and we did not score the chances that we had."

Coming on the back of City's 2-2 draw to CSKA Moscow last week (having squandered a 2-0 lead) and Saturday's defeat to West Ham in the league, Pellegrini agreed that his side were "not in a good moment". He added: "I'm sure that we will leave this week behind us and carry on thinking about the future."

Ryan Taylor will also be thinking of a brighter future after 26 months during which there were times he questioned if he would ever play football again. "Years of hard graft for myself just to get back playing football is a big thing for me, but what a performance that was from the lads," he told reporters.

Pardew agreed but singled out Taylor for additional praise. "Ryan Taylor was a kind of story you'd read in some football magazine that was made up," he said. "He was outstanding in his first game after all that time. Brilliant."

Capital One Cup quarter-final draw:

Derby County v Chelsea

Tottenham v Newcastle

Bournemouth v Liverpool

Sheffield United v Southampton