Newcastle 0 Chelsea 1:Didier Drogba came off the bench to defeat Newcastle for the second time in a week as Chelsea marched into the Carling Cup semi-finals.
The striker blasted home a superb 78th-minute winner just five minutes after his introduction to break the Magpies' hearts, just as he had done in the Barclays Premiership game at Stamford Bridge last Wednesday.
Glenn Roeder's men battled all the way and might have taken the lead on 27 minutes when Obafemi Martins's shot came back off the underside of the bar, but Andriy Shevchenko and Frank Lampard both hit the post.
The home side were in trouble again on 71 minutes when Robben picked out Lampard inside the penalty area, but the England midfielder fired wide.
Martins was in two minutes later and when denied by Hilario Scott Parker's blushes were spared as he missed the empty net from the rebound.
Drogba replaced Shevchenko with 17 minutes remaining, and for the second time in a week, did the trick when he blasted home a superb shot after Ballack took a short-free-kick.
Newcastle threw everything they had at the visitors as time ran down, but it was Lampard who hit the woodwork in injury time with a long-range effort with Given in no man's land.
