During five years on Newcastle’s payroll Andy Woodman’s apparently endless supply of jokes prompted plenty of training ground laughter but club insiders knew better than to underestimate their goalkeeping coach.

That judgment was vindicated as, a decade after leaving Tyneside, Woodman returned in charge of Bromley. Ultimately, League Two’s 12th-placed team could not prevent their hosts from recording an eighth straight victory in all competitions but, for quite a while, Woodman’s meticulously organised players ­frustrated Eddie Howe’s Premier League high flyers.

Although Newcastle’s manager did not panic when Cameron Congreve gave Bromley an early lead, it took the second half introduction of Anthony Gordon to raise the home tone on a day when Will Osula confounded the doubters by scoring his first goal in a Newcastle shirt.

It in effect ensured a fourth-round tie against Birmingham City but Newcastle arrived in the hat via a slightly scenic route against opponents enjoying a first season as Football League members. “It was lovely,” said Woodman. “Who knows what might have happened if we’d got a second goal but Newcastle are a class team and it was the right way to get beaten.”

As he greeted old friends en route to the away technical area at kick-off Woodman could barely stop ­smiling. By the eighth minute his grin was as wide as the Tyne after the ­subsequently excellent Lewis Miley forfeited possession, permitting Congreve to unleash a dipping, curving, 20-yard left-foot shot that Martin Dubravka touched but failed to hold as it swerved into the bottom corner. The 20-year-old Swansea loanee had clearly taken Woodman’s pre-match advice to “be a bit more positive in the final third” to heart.

Woodman opted for the security of a back five but, if anything, Bromley’s formation heightened their initial sense of adventure and the 21-year-old Crystal Palace loanee Danny Imray very nearly doubled the visiting lead after advancing from right wing-back and directing a low shot fractionally wide. No one could have guessed this was Bromley’s third round debut, not to mention their first meeting with top tier opposition.

A break in play afforded Howe a chance to issue Miley with a touchline pep talk. Much to Woodman’s dismay, it was clearly heeded. When Osula, deputising for the rested Alexander Isak in a heavily rotated Newcastle starting XI, got his feet in a tangle as he attempted to round Bromley’s goalkeeper, Grant Smith, the 18-year-old pounced on the fallout.

After seizing possession just ­outside the area Miley took a steadying touch before sending the cleanest of shots whizzing well beyond Smith’s reach. It proved the cue for Woodman to fold his arms and start looking slightly pensive.

The Bromley manager still recalls travelling to fourth-tier Stevenage as part of Alan Pardew’s Newcastle staff for a third round tie in 2011 and returning on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline.

Pardew picked a strong starting XI but some of his supposed stars failed to take their opponents ­seriously enough.

Fears of something not entirely dissimilar happening here perhaps explained the ripples of mild frustration running through the 52,000-plus capacity crowd as Harvey Barnes, Miguel Almirón and Sean Longstaff all underwhelmed, failing to turn Newcastle’s monopolisation of possession into a material advantage.

Woodman’s hopes of emulating Stevenage’s feat 14 years ago were further enhanced by Omar Sowunmi’s impressive first-half marking of Osula. With Callum Wilson injured, Osula and Isak are Howe’s sole specialist centre-forwards but, at this stage at least, the former Sheffield United forward, described as “a project striker” by his manager, appeared very much a work in progress.

At the interval, though, Howe offered Osula a little extra support in the shape of two potentially game-changing ­substitutes in England’s Gordon and Brazil’s Bruno Guimarães.

It did not take Gordon long to amplify the decibel level as his 49th-minute penalty sent Smith the wrong way after Ben Thompson’s late poleaxing challenge on Matt Targett.

With Miley now controlling midfield, the scene was set for Osula to assume centre stage. Having ­collected possession just inside Bromley’s half, he cut in from the right and shrugged off a marker before beating Smith courtesy of an inexorable, high-velocity left-foot shot, that arrowed into the far top corner.

It left Osula celebrating so enthusiastically that only concerted shouting on Kieran Trippier’s part coaxed the 21-year-old back into position for the restart. “Will’s been waiting for that moment,” said Howe. “He has huge potential and quality.”