The Day Owen Rocked The Potters!

Owen struck twice inside the opening 24 minutes to give his side the perfect platform at St James' Park.

However, the loss of midfielder Danny Guthrie at half-time exposed the lack of depth in Joe Kinnear's squad and a desperate second-half display allowed the visitors to fight their way back into a game which should have been beyond them.

Mamady Sidibe pulled one back on the hour and Faye levelled in injury time as a late onslaught finally paid dividends in front of a largely devastated crowd of 47,422.

Eleven months ago to the day Sam Allardyce took his Newcastle side to then Coca-Cola Championship Stoke for an FA Cup third-round tie and returned delighted with a 0-0 draw.

However, owner Mike Ashley decided on the evidence of that 90 minutes that enough was enough and the former Bolton boss, now favourite for the vacant post at Sunderland, was on his way.

Ten days later Kevin Keegan sat in the stands at St James' Park and watched the side he had agreed to take over win the replay 4-1.

Had the former England manager been in the same seat today, he would have been celebrating in similar fashion as the Magpies took the game by the scruff of the neck before the break.

Goalless draws at Chelsea and Middlesbrough in their previous two games had demonstrated a commendable resilience, but they knew this was a game they needed to win and set about the task with some relish.

Owen and Obafemi Martins revelled in the service they were given back on home turf with the £17million man Owen in particular making the most of the opportunities which came his way.

With nine minutes gone Jonas Gutierrez cut inside from the right to roll the ball into his path and Owen slid it past Thomas Sorensen and inches inside the post.

There was less finesse about his second, lunging in at the far post intent simply on making contact with Martins' driven cross, but the outcome was the same.

Indeed, had it not been for the heroics of defender Danny Higginbotham - one of three Sunderland old boys in a Stoke side which included as many former Magpies - who twice blocked Jonas' shots in front of goal, the game could have been over by the break.

The Potters threatened only fleetingly, with some of the sting taken out of Rory Delap's long throw by the close proximity of the advertising hoardings to the playing surface.

However, they might have got themselves back into the game six minutes before half-time had former Newcastle defender Abdoulaye Faye managed to direct a free header at goal from substitute Glenn Whelan's free-kick.

Guthrie's failure to reappear after the break on an afternoon when Nicky Butt missed out with a hamstring injury left Kinnear short of midfield options, and his response was inventive.

Jonas moved into the middle as Habib Beye took over on the right, with substitute Steven Taylor replacing him at full-back.

But in what proved to be an intensely uncomfortable second half for the home side, Ibrahima Sonko headed a 47th-minute Whelan free-kick across goal, and they were opened up for the first time five minutes later.

Sidibe found acres of space down the right and had time to pick out Richard Cresswell in the middle.

He looked certain to score until Taylor arrived from nowhere to make a superb block and prevent Shay Given from having to make his first genuine save of the game.

The threat represented by Delap ended with 57 minutes gone when he was replaced by striker Ricardo Fuller as the home defence was handed a different test.

It was one they failed within three minutes when the newcomer worked his way into the box from the right and crossed for Sidibe to score from close range.

Abdoulaye Faye might have levelled in the final minute of normal time, but he made amends in injury time when he stabbed home from Whelan's free-kick.