A smaller than expected crowd at the Welfare Ground saw a young United reserve side overcome the Terriers, thanks to the predatory instincts of Michael Chopra and direct tactics of birthday boy coach Tommy Craig.

Having survived the recent rotten weather, the pitch wasn't too bad and didn't really deteriorate. Thankfully there was no standing water to make the game a farce, but most of those playing managed to pick up a fair amount of Bedlington clarts on their strips.

The home side attempted to play the ball through midfield, in contrast to United who opted for a less studied approach in view of the conditions. 

All three of our goals came from Chopra's runs into space and close range finishes past the keeper, with the striker also missing three other decent chances, one of which brought a fine save from Powell in the Bedlington goal.

To complete a busy night for Chops he was also booked after an over-eager tackle on Ian Bogie. Momentarily it seemed as if we were to be plagued by more awful refereeing at reserve level, but local ref Ilderton realised just in time that he'd mistakenly pulled his red card from his pocket.

For the Terriers, the familiar figure of Dean Gibb had their best efforts with a couple of crashing volleys that went just wide.

The home side included former Newcastle players Ian Bogie, John Milner, Warren Teasdale  and Phil Coxall, but work commitments prevented ex-United academy striking Jonny Mann from facing his old side.

Newcastle now face an away tie at Ponteland in the next round - date tbc.