Alan Shearer's historic 200th goal for Newcastle spared Graeme Souness a major FA Cup embarrassment in a 1-0 victory over Coca-Cola League Two Mansfield.
The 35-year-old fired home from close range from Albert Luque's backheel 10 minutes from time to equal the legendary Jackie Milburn's club record total.
It was Shearer's 21st FA Cup goal for the club and it broke Mansfield's hearts.
Shearer once beat Stags goalkeeper Kevin Pressman five times in a single game during his days at Sheffield Wednesday, but it was a measure of the League Two side's performance that he converted his only real chance.
Had he not pounced late in the game, a goalless draw could have left the under-pressure Souness facing a major revolt.
Peter Shirtliff's Mansfield will feel aggrieved not to have secured a replay at least, and had they not had a hero to acclaim on the final whistle, the bulk of a crowd of 41,459 would have left disgruntled.
However lacklustre their performance, Souness' men remain in the hunt for the last trophy they can win this season.
Newcastle's injury problems have been well documented, and Souness went into the game without nine first-team squad members while Lee Bowyer was suspended and Amady Faye away on international duty with Senegal.
However, he was still able to field a side which cost around £45million to put together and which included seven full internationals.
And while he promised to treat Mansfield with the utmost respect, he fully expected the Magpies to ease through to the fourth round.
But and as his millionaires walked off the pitch at half-time, Souness, who has spent the last week defending himself against intense criticism, had boos ringing in his ears once again.
He insists he understands the crowd's frustration, but the reasons for the latest jeers were plain to see as a misfiring outfit proved embarrassingly incapable of imposing themselves on a team lying 20th in League Two.
A makeshift midfield saw Nolberto Solano lining up on the left rather than his familiar right.
Lee Clark and Charles N'Zogbia also featured, as did Martin Brittain who was lightweight and criminally wasteful on the ball, leaving Shearer and the lively Luque feeding off scraps.
Despite familiar defensive concerns, goalkeeper Shay Given had only one real save to make before the break - from Allan Russell's long-range 18th-minute effort.
The concern was in the middle of the park as Stephen Dawson and Giles Coke repeatedly got the better of Clark and N'Zogbia to feed dangerous wingers Adam Rundle and Gus Uhlenbeek.
Luque had carelessly fired into the side-netting when a cross might have been the better option, and Solano saw a goal-bound 30th-minute effort blocked by Alex Baptiste.
And although most of Mansfield's efforts came from distance and were well off target, they were seeing too much of the ball for the crowd's comfort.
Newcastle then came perilously close to falling behind within a minute of the restart.
Front two Richie Barker and Russell had given Titus Bramble and Jean-Alain Boumsong plenty to think about before the break.
They combined to put the pair under pressure again immediately after the restart to hand Uhlenbeek another chance to cross.
His ball was dummied in the middle to leave Rundle bearing down on goal, but his firm first-time shot was saved by Given.
Stephen Carr, back in the side for the first time since a frank exchange with the manager over his fitness, fired high over from a tight angle after 49 minutes, and Pressman had to collect a looping header from Shearer six minutes later.
Carr made way for Peter Ramage and Michael Chopra soon followed him as Luque dropped in on the left side of midfield and Solano returned to his more accustomed right-sided role.
By that stage, Newcastle were starting to threaten on a more sustained basis.
Gareth Jelleyman got in a vital block to deny Shearer on 70 minutes after Clark and Solano had played a neat one-two, and Luque sent a dipping free-kick just over two minutes later.
The post came to Pressman's rescue 16 minutes from time when Chopra deflected N'Zogbia's cross towards goal.
Given and Ramage survived a comedy of errors on 78 minutes when they contrived to present the ball to Dawson 35 yards out with the goal at his mercy, and the midfielder miskicked.
But just as the knives were being sharpened, Shearer chose the perfect moment to draw level with Milburn.
Luque ran on to Solano's pass before backheeling the ball for his skipper to blast a low shot past Pressman and into the net as St James' Park erupted in a mixture of joy and relief.
