Newcastle United's long wait to win a trophy will now extend to 56 years and manager Eddie Howe must mount a salvage operation to stop a season of expectation ending as one of desperate anti-climax followed by heavy scrutiny.
City's goals were both laced with a heavy sprinkling of good fortune, but the big worry for Howe is that Newcastle never for one moment looked like they had the self-belief or conviction to win.
As an FA Cup quarter-final contest, this was hopelessly one-sided, with the second half a rather tedious, timid spectacle that was only enlivened by the magnificent, noisy support of Newcastle's 8,000 travelling fans.