Rovers will be in the draw for the FA Cup fourth round, but Tony Mowbray says his players were disappointed after being held to a 1-1 draw.

Bradley Dack put Rovers ahead with his 13th goal of the season, heading in an Elliott Bennett cross early in the second half.

But Matt Ritchie levelled from the spot late on, after substitute Ayoze Perez was brought down in the box as the game at St James' Park ended 1-1.

The two teams will try again at Ewood Park on January 15.

“It’s a disappointed dressing room at the end, pretty quiet,” Mowbray said.

“We couldn’t really see them scoring, but they started to bring on their big guns, Shelvey started hitting forward balls and Perez and Atsu started running in behind.

“That put us more on the back foot.

“That was about what we get from our team every week. We’ve just come out of a run of playing the top four teams in the Championship at a high intensity level and it was just the same here. They keep producing.

“It’s just disappointing for them that we didn’t come away from the game with the result we felt we deserved.”

Newcastle made eight changes to the side which lost to Manchester United in midweek, while Rovers made just one alteration to the team which beat West Bromwich Albion on New Year’s Day.

But asked if the hosts’ team-sheet gave him any more encouragement, Mowbray said: “Not really.

“My job is to drive the team hard, I need to make sure they don’ take their foot off the gas against a team in the Premier League in front of nearly 40,000.

“You realise they (Newcastle) need to stay in the Premier League so he (Rafa Benitez) left some of his players on the bench, so maybe the team got a lift.

“But for me it was about our performance levels, our desire to get a result and we nearly did.”

Dack headed in from Bennett’s delivery, while Charlie Mulgrew’s set plays were a constant threat once again.

Mowbray added: “I thought we were going to score from a set play. I said the other day that it wasn’t a fluke to see Mulgrew score from a corner.

“First half, Bradley could have scored back stick, it whizzed past him unmarked at the back stick.

“We were a threat and we will be a threat from set plays.

“We leave a bit disappointed, but we competed against the top four teams in the Championship and against a Premier League side.

“Although they made eight changes, those players have all played in the Premier League. Jacob Murphy who I worked with at Coventry City cost them £12m. I don’t think we played a reserve team.

“Every player in our team played in League One last season, and Newcastle were in the Premier League, so it’s great credit to come away from home and put in the performance we did.”