Dan Burn has told his teammates they will be viewed as gods if Newcastle United finally slake their 68-year thirst for a domestic trophy.
How apt, then, that it was the boyhood Magpies supporter who was the source of the divine finish that pushed them one step closer to history.
It really is some story. A decade ago Burn was pushing trolleys around his local Asda and barely able to get a trial at a professional football club. Back then it would barely have seemed believable that he would emerge as the hero in a game that seasoned Newcastle watchers rated as their biggest in years.
But this is a team and club intent on rewriting the script and just as it seemed profligate Newcastle were going to fall into a familiar pit of self-inflicted despair at St James’ Park, it was Burn who supplied the fairy-tale ending by striding into the penalty area before sweeping majestically past Danny Ward.
The explosion of relief around the stadium was tangible. Newcastle had dominated, applying the sort of pressure that begs for someone to emerge as a hero. But Sean Longstaff and Bruno Guimaraes were in uncharacteristically charitable mood in front of goal and the natives sensed it.
More than half a century without a trophy adds a unique dynamic to Newcastle’s tilt at history and what was a boisterous crowd before kick-off started to become more hushed. Tension was beginning to set in as a disappointing Leicester began to threaten. The Magpies needed a hero.
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Burn was the most unlikely source but seemed to summon the spirit of his icon Alan Shearer with his finish on the hour mark, placing it beautifully in front of a heaving Gallowgate End in what must rate as an undoubted career high point. It was, incredibly, just his 12th goal in professional football and the knee slide that followed represented the unbridled joy felt by his fellow fans in the stadium.
Suddenly the tension lifted and Newcastle began to play with the shackles off. Joelinton – the disastrous No 9 who has turned into a brilliant left winger and a man whose transformation represents the Eddie Howe revolution so succinctly – scored a superb second to ensure there were no late nerves on Tyneside.
Newcastle can continue to dream and a place in the last four represents a bit of history. It is 19 years since they played a semi-final on home soil and whoever they draw tomorrow should be braced for a wall of sound.
It may be that the Carabao Cup is on borrowed time as a major trophy but it really, really matters in these parts. And it was no more than Newcastle deserved, having burst out of the traps on their mission to avenge a shock FA Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.
On Boxing Day, a rapier start settled the Premier League meeting between these two teams within half an hour. Leicester should have suffered a similar fate here, such was the home side’s relentless early pressure, but Newcastle’s profligacy complicated matters.
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A sell-out home crowd sensed this was an opportunity to create history, waving scarves before the kick-off in an impressive show of support. But the longer the game went on, the more the trophy drought became a monkey on their collective backs. Thank goodness, then, for Burn.
Leicester largely flattered to deceive. Brendan Rodgers had spoke of a revival in the second half of the season and capitalising on this cup tie but his team is in desperate need of renewal. Newcastle made them look largely ordinary and it was only after Joelinton had put daylight between the two sides that they sprung into life.
Substitute Jamie Vardy coughed up two excellent chances to make a game of it, prompting derision from the stands. Leicester’s travelling contingent shot back with a reminder that the striker has won more silverware than Newcastle recently. Given the dizzying trajectory they’re on, that might not be the case for long.
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