Newcastle won 2-0 thanks to goals from Dan Burn and Joelinton.
On Burn's goal, Howe said afterwards: "It was a training ground move so well done to all the coaches involved in that. It was a well-worked routine.
"Probably technically it is (better than the Carabao Cup final) but it will be very difficult for him to do something as magical and memorable as that.
"But in terms of a technical header, that was an incredible finish. It was a really well-worked routine. We really need to score more from set-plays. Hopefully that's a good start for us."
Howe was also happy to hand Lewis Hall minutes in the second-half as he returned from injury.
"It was my plan to try to give him minutes," added the manager. "You can never make that guarantee, but it was in my mind to use him today; it was in my mind not to use him at West Ham because he'd only had one training session and he's worked so hard to get back, we don't want to lose him now having done all the hard work.
"I thought it was the right time to introduce him. I thought he played very well, I was really pleased with him.
"We still have to have a level of caution to how much he can play at the moment, but positive steps for him trying to find his rhythm again and all the pitch dimensions and geography that he needs to produce his best performances."