Owen opens his account in the season ..

Injury-plagued Michael Owen celebrated his first start of the season with a goal as Newcastle beat Barnsley 2-0 to reach the English League Cup third round on Wednesday.

The England international striker scored 12 minutes after the interval to grab his first goal in 20 months.

Obafemi Martins wrapped up the victory three minutes from time.

Rolando Bianchi struck 10 minutes from time to give Manchester City a 2-1 win over Bristol City after Bradley Orr had levelled Emile Mpenza's first half opener.

"I am relieved to be through," said City's former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

"We should have finished it much more easily. We had five or six good opportunities to score in the first half alone.

"But the rules of football are always the same. If you don't take your chances, eventually you will suffer."

Middlesbrough had to wait until the second half before they subdued League One Northampton 2-0 at the Riverside.

Fabio Rochemback opened the scoring with a 53rd-minute free-kick before South Korean international Lee Dong Gook grabbed his first goal for the club in the 66th minute.

Boro assistant manager Malcolm Crosby paid tribute to Lee.

"His goal is a long time coming and he deserves it. Hopefully it will give him a big lift. He has been looking very good in training recently," he added.

"Credit to Northampton because they played some good football and created some good openings but I think we started well and got the right result in the end."