Eddie Howe present as Newcastle United young stars suffer cup final disappointment

Eddie Howe watched on as Newcastle United under-23s rounded off their 2021/22 campaign with a 3-2 defeat to National League North side Blyth Spartans in the Northumberland Senior Cup final.

The Magpies head coach was joined by several members of his backroom team - including Jason Tindall, Simon Weatherstone and Graeme Jones - as Elliott Dickman’s youngsters were defeated in front of 2,189 supporters at St James’ Park.

United were 3-0 down at half-time but threatened a thrilling comeback after goals from Jay Turner-Cooke and Santiago Munoz. However, Spartans, who compete in the sixth-tier of English football, just managed to hold on.

Semi-professional Spartans opened the scoring in the 21st minute when Sado Djalo headed home JJ O’Donnell’s in-swinging delivery.

Just three minutes later, It was 2-0 when Robbie Dale’s corner somehow found its way past England under-18s international Max Thompson. Dale then turned provider before the first-half was out as his corner was this time directed home by Nathan Buddle.

Shortly after Dickman’s half-time team talk, the young Magpies pulled one back as Turner-Cooke curled a superb looped effort over Blyth goalkeeper Alex Mitchell.

And with 23 minutes left to play, Munoz made it a nervy finish for Spartans - finding the net just four minutes after being introduced from the substitute bench.

A game of two halves ultimately ended in cup disappointment for Dickman & Co in front of Howe. That brought the curtain down on the under-23s’ 2021/22 campaign, where they finished 8th in Premier League 2 Group 2, narrowly missing out on the play-offs.