EFL Cup: Newcastle run riot as they fire six past powerless Preston while Hull brush aside Bristol City

Newcastle, Leeds and Hull all emerged victorious from their EFL Cup fixtures

Aleksandar Mitrovic found the back of the net twice at St James' Park (Getty)

Alexander Mitrovic answered his critics in style as Newcastle marched into the EFL Cup quarter-finals by tearing 10-man Preston to shreds.

The Serbia international opened the scoring with a first-half header and after Mohamed Diame's first goal for the club, and a Matt Ritchie penalty had put the result beyond doubt, he added a second with a fine individual effort before Diame matched his feat and substitute Ayoze Perez helped himself at the death.

Rafael Benitez's side, who had only once before gone past the fourth round of a domestic cup competition during owner Mike Ashley's tenure, dominated from the off, but were helped in no small part by North End midfielder Alan Browne's 25th-minute dismissal for an ugly challenge on Jack Colback as they extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to eight games.

The teams, which featured a total of 16 changes in front of a crowd of 49,042 at St James' Park, meet again at Deepdale in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday, when Preston boss Simon Grayson will expect much, much more.

Hull shrugged off their poor Premier League form to reach the last eight of the EFL Cup with a 2-1 victory at Bristol City.

The Tigers had lost all four league games since winning at Stoke in the previous round of the competition.

But goals either side of half-time from centre-backs Harry Maguire - his first for Hull - and Michael Dawson took the Tigers into the quarter-finals for the second successive year, despite Lee Tomlin's stoppage-time consolation.

Harry Maguire celebrates his goal for Hull (Getty)

Elsewhere, Leeds United beat Norwich 3-2 on penalties at Elland Road following a 2-2 draw after extra time.

Norwich had twice taken the lead in the match, Alex Pritchard (14) and Nelson Oliveira (99) netting but Leeds battled back to level both times thanks to Marcus Antonsson (43) and substitute Chris Wood (109).

That sent the tie to penalties, where Leeds came out on top with Ronaldo Vieira slotting home the winning spot-kick after Marco Silvestri had saved efforts from Pritchard, Steven Naismith and Robbie Brady.