It means we've managed just one win during the summer but there's no shame in tonight's result. Newcastle fielded big guns like Papiss Cisse, Hatem Ben Arfa and Fabricio Coloccini from the off, with former Saint Paul Dummett starting and Conor Newton on the bench. Joining him was Michael Richardson, who played for Saints as a trialist against Stockport on Saturday. Saints went with a strong, attacking line-up that probably won't be changed too much for the season opener against Inverness Caley Thistle.
Newcastle dominated proceedings and it looked as if we would be on the receiving end of a hammering when they scored twice inside the opening half hour. Cisse scored a screamer, while Mathieu Debuchy looked yards offside when he got the second.
Surprisingly, that was the end of the scoring and youngster Sean Kelly almost got one back late on, his header going wide. By this point Newton had come on, his League Cup Final winner ensuring he received a warm reception.
So the phony war is over. Saturday is when it really matters.
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