“Spurs are on their way to Wembley”, the tiny band of travellers sang, but for Newcastle United it is the road to perdition that stretches out, deserted and dismal in the gathering gloom. This was the performance of a team who have lost their way, on behalf of a club who are losing their mind.

Directionless and without purpose, they stagger from one calamity to the next, slipping towards obscurity and, last night, out of the competition that offers one of only two chances of a trophy this season.

Roman Pavlyuchenko, the striker that Tottenham Hotspur signed from Spartak Moscow for £14 million, did the damage, but recent events have as good as programmed Newcastle to lose. Tottenham have had a rotten time of it, too, this season, but at no club has hope been abandoned as spectacularly as Newcastle. Forsaken by their last friends, the supporters, who provided the lowest crowd at St James’ Park in 16 years, they entered this match like beaten men, nervous, uninspired and with no reinforcements on the horizon. There was talk of a new manager before the match, maybe Terry Venables or Glenn

Hoddle, which should please the bearers of the “Cockney Mafia Out” banner, but organisation off the field appears as shambolic as matters on it, and nobody knows whether this latest round of gossip has any more basis than rumours of a sale to owners in Dubai, China and Nigeria. Tottenham’s saving grace is that the North London club at least know where they are going, even if where they are now is not a particularly happy place.

Newcastle still have so much work to do that, even if the new man brings logic to the club, what hope is there of boardroom rationality?

Even the long-suffering Toon Army have been dispirited by recent events. “Can you be our 12th man?” asked an advertising display, touting for club membership, although considering the inexperienced look of the substitutes’ bench, it may have been a more literal request — one almost expected to see it followed by an earnest instruction to bring boots and any spare kit. The strain of this season is beginning to tell on all parties. Tottenham’s goals, two in four minutes, were met not with anger or a rallying cry of defiance, but more a resigned acceptance of fate.

Near the end, as numbers thinned further, the silence was broken only as a result of Michael Owen’s late goal from the standard mistake by Heurelho Gomes, the Tottenham goalkeeper. The final whistle brought cursory boos and a rapid exit. This ends only one way unless Mike Ashley, the owner, acts fast, and the first job of the man taking over will be to stop the club plummeting towards relegation.

Looking at the simplicity of Tottenham’s victory, this will not be easy. Pavlyuchenko has endured a difficult introduction to English football and recently complained of tiredness, having played the best part of a season already in Russia before making his move. He was used as a lone striker by Juande Ramos, the head coach, and while it seemed a strange task for a player already aching from exertion, he was more than a match for Newcastle. Most of Tottenham’s best chances came from Pavlyuchenko’s physical presence, he gave Fabricio Coloccini, the Newcastle centre half, quite a battering and his goal broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute — and, boy, was it dead. The cross came from Aaron Lennon but Pavlyuchenko made room well and, from that moment, Newcastle were done.

Demoralised, they surrendered, a poor pass from Coloccini catching Steven Taylor in less than combative mode. The ball was intercepted by Jamie O’Hara, the Tottenham midfield player, who finished smartly past Shay Given. Newcastle were two down and to look at their demeanour it may as well have been 20.

Whatever the few hardy souls came for, it certainly wasn’t the football. Although Newcastle were on the wrong end of the result, this was not exactly a corner turned for Tottenham. There were two edgy teams here, and the scrap was as much for dignity as a place in the fourth round.

A roaring St James’ Park may have inspired the home team, but how long has it been since a first-team match was played at this ground and the crowd could hear the voices of the players. The stadium emptied by protest, disillusionment and a live television broadcast, the instructions and admonishments of the teams echoed across a poignantly sparse ground, adding to the tension in the air. O’Hara’s complaint to Chris Foy, the referee, about letting the game flow, frustrated instructions to Gérémi, out of sorts for Newcastle at right back — it was all laid out.

Pitiable, really. Newcastle supporters take pride in a reputation for loyalty against all the odds, but this is a club in agony and it showed. The search for a new manager is scattergun, the first-team squad is threadbare, the owners and executives are absent. Space occupied the directors’ box where those responsible should have been; only now it is mirrored in other parts of the ground. Something is missing from the team-sheet, too, and a quick run through the opposing benches told why Tottenham fans have less to fear, long term.

What would Newcastle give to have Luka Modric, David Bentley and even Darren Bent in the squad and choose not to play them, as Tottenham did?

The sight of Jonathan Woodgate, the now-fit Tyneside old boy, which is more than he was for much of his time in the North East, must have been galling, too, not least when he cleared Newcastle’s first decent chance, from Damien Duff, off the line in the 47th minute. Had that gone in, who knows if Tottenham would have cracked?

As it was, Woodgate sent the ball on its way for a corner and, with it, Newcastle’s hope of respite. A long road lies ahead, and it may be downhill all the way.

Newcastle United (4-4-2): S Given - Gérémi, S Taylor, F Coloccini, S Bassong - D Duff (sub: Xisco, 71min), N Butt, Caçapa (sub: D Edgar, 71), C N'Zogbia - M Owen, O Martins. Substitutes not used: S Harper, F Ameobi, B Tozer, M Doninger, R Donaldson. Booked: Butt.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-1-4-1): H Gomes - V Corluka, J Woodgate, L King, B Assou-Ekotto - D Zokora - A Lennon (sub: F Campbell, 61), J Jenas, J O'Hara, G Bale (sub: Giovani Dos Santos, 52) - R Pavlyuchenko (sub: L Modric, 75). Substitutes not used: D Bentley, D Bent, Gilberto, L Modric, C Sánchez. Booked: Corluka, O'Hara, Zokora.

Referee: C Foy.