London, March 17 (IANS) Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe reflected on his team’s celebrations after ending their 70-year-long drought without a major domestic trophy after the Magpies defeated Liverpool 2-1 in the final of the Carabao Cup at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

As they sought a long-awaited first trophy since their 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup triumph and seven decades on from their last FA Cup win, hometown hero Dan Burn's stunning first-half header on his 100th appearance for the club and Isak, who had been denied by an offside call seconds earlier, turned home a second after the break to lead the team to victory.

Despite the unreal achievement from Howe’s men, the English head coach confirmed he did not join the celebrations that dragged late into the night and claimed his side is an emotional one after the club went into celebration mode post the final whistle.

"We feel we deserved to win the game, and that makes it that much more satisfying. Winning the trophy was the number one objective, but then you want to play well and do yourselves justice. The players were magnificent; we were really committed, and now we get to enjoy the reward for the next few days.

"I think we’re an emotional football club. There are a lot of extreme emotions after wins and defeats but it’s been a long wait for a trophy for everybody, so it’s great to be the team that has ended the long spell. With that comes a sort of release from everybody. We will enjoy this for a few days and get back to work,” said Howe to Sky Sports.

Newcastle’s journey to their maiden Carabao Cup triumph was one full of uphill challenges. The Toon’s pursuit of glory saw them defeat each of the current top four in the Premier League through the campaign in Liverpool, Arsenal (4-0 win in semi-finals), Nottingham Forest (4-3 win on penalties in the second round) and Chelsea (2-0 win in Round of 16).

--IANS

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