Tim Krul returned to his old club for this friendly and was back in the groove with another clean sheet.
Newcastle largely dominated both possession and chances with Cisse having one cleared off the line and Shola thinking he’d broken the deadlock only to see it ruled out for offside.
Coutinho in the home goal was by far the busier of the two keepers and did a grand job keeping United at bay.
One of the more pleasing aspects was seeing Gabriel Obertan finally look as though he might be overcoming some of his ‘stage fright’ as he had the confidence to shoot on sight today and was desperately unlucky with two great efforts which were kept out with equally good saves.
The players featuring today were Krul, Ryan Taylor (Perch 71), Steven Taylor (Williamson 64), Coloccini, Santon (Simpson 82), Obertan (Shola 71), Tiote (Bigirimana 71), Vuckic (Gosling 64), Gutierrez, Cisse, Ba (Amalfitano 82)
Marveaux, Ben Arfa and Cabaye were left at home to continue their pre-season fitness programme.
Full report to follow.
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