Steve Bruce admitted that Newcastle United players badly missed the influence of a full house at St James' Park during their FA Cup exit to Manchester City.
The Magpies were beaten 2-0 to end their interest in the competition for another year and were never really at the races against last year's treble winners.
Bruce is the first manager since Glenn Roeder to lead his team to the quarter-finals of the competition but was left disappointed by the outcome.
He said after the game: "It’s bad enough playing Manchester City anyway.
“But there’s no doubt it’s even harder without 50,000 mad Geordies shouting their heads off to give us some encouragement.
“There’s no question that we wanted and needed that.
"Had this game been taking place normally at half-past-six on a Sunday night, it would have been terrific. It wasn’t to be, and when you’re playing against these teams, you really need your crowd to give you a lift. We’re unique here, and it would have been a marvellous occasion.
"It’s not the case, and supporters or no supporters, we were too passive in our first-half approach. We were better in the second half and made it a cup tie, and it would have been interesting if we had taken that big chance (from Gayle), which you have to take when you play against these big teams.”
