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Gaffer Glad To Be In The Hat
Written by Newcastle Utd
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is satisfied after United progressed to the third round of the Carling Cup at Scunthorpe
By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter
Alan Pardew is happy that he can watch Saturday's Carling Cup third round draw safe in the knowledge that Newcastle will be one of the teams involved.
Scunthorpe almost caused a shock at Glanford Park on Thursday night, but Ryan Taylor's late equaliser was a just reward for a much-improved second half showing and Sammy Ameobi confirmed United's safe passage in extra time.
The draw for the next round will be made live on Sky Sports at 12 noon and the Magpies manager insisted: "It's important in the cup that you're in the hat; that's all that matters, and we're in the hat.
"It was a difficult game. You have to give credit to the opposition. They did a great job and we had to really, really dig deep to get through and we managed to do that."
He added: "We were a lot better second half in a lot of areas - application and desire - and sometimes when you play opposition you're not familiar with, they can surprise you.
"And they surprised us. A few of my players realised that they were up against professional, good footballers that are coached every day to be as good as they can be.
"Once we got to grips with that, we were better and second half, we deserved to win I thought."