Rafa Benitez refuted the suggestion his Newcastle side enjoyed a slice of fortune in their FA Cup replay at Ewood Park.

The visitors went 2-0 up early on via efforts from Sean Longstaff and Callum Roberts, before Rovers hit back with goals from Adam Armstrong and Darragh Lenihan.

Benitez's men subsequently secured a spot in the fourth round, in which they will host Watford, following extra-time strikes from Joselu and substitute Ayoze Perez.

The third goal, scored in added time at the end of the first half of extra time by Joselu, looked to be offside, but with no VAR present in the replay, the goal stood.

When it was put to Benitez that his side had enjoyed a piece of luck in that instance, he said: "No, I don't think that was luck.

"I think before the second goal was a foul against one of our players, and a free-kick, and then they score. These things can happen.

"In this case we scored the third goal. You can complain if you want, but I think overall we scored four goals, so it's difficult to complain about that."

Benitez made eight changes from the side which lost to Chelsea last weekend, just as he did in the first game at St James' Park. The win could have come at a cost though, with defensive duo Ciaran Clark and Jamaal Lascelles coming off with injuries ahead of their crunch Premier League game with Cardiff City on Saturday.

Benitez added: "I think it's important to win, to score four goals and to go through. So I'm really pleased with that.

"At the same time you have some problems and maybe you will lose some players - hopefully not, we will see in a couple of days how they are.

"But okay, we won, and everybody has to be happy now and hopefully also it will help for the confidence of the players.

"After conceding and reacting like we did, as a manager I have to be really pleased with them.

"You wanted to win, you needed to win and to do it with the character they showed, with the reaction, and four goals - young players scoring goals, Joselu and Ayoze scoring goals, players who needed to score - that has to be good for the confidence of the team for sure."

On the injuries, he added: "Jamaal, we have to wait because it is too early. When it is a hamstring, you never know."