Full time: Rovers 1 Magpies 0

Kevin Keegan commented:

"It was a really hot day and a few players got 90 minutes under their belt. We go to Mallorca next and if it's any hotter than this I'll be surprised.

"It was a good surface and it was a really good work out. 

"Nobody tried to kick each other and there was some good football played. You don't like losing games to a soft goal but we did create a few chances.

"We had ten players missing today for different reasons so we've got something to add to that."

On Obafemi Martins:

"I told him to go home. It's a terrible thing to lose your mother. He'll come back when he's ready, however long it needs to take.

"He's a very fit boy and has done all his pre-season and will not be lacking too much in that department."

On transfers:

"Hopefully over the next week or two there will be one or two new faces in, but it's just as important to get players back who are missing.

"We've got no cover for right or left-back at the moment and that's probably the two most important areas.

"We've got plenty in midfield and up front, James Milner, Gutierrez will be fantastic then we've got Owen and Viduka to come back and so on because we've got as many not here today as were here so you've got to bear that in mind.

"We're looking at two or three players, but we get linked with so many players it's frightening. Left-back is a specialised position, so is right-back, we went from Christmas to the end of the season with one left-back and we will get another one definitely."

On Sebastien Bassong:

"I thought he did very well and we'll see where we go from here. He's not a kid, he's played 70-odd times in the French First Division and has played for France U21s.

"He's one we've had with us a week and we've seen him train and wanted to see him in a match and today was a good test for him. For someone very new he did very well.

On Rovers and a possible return to the Keepmoat Stadium for a future friendly:

Why not?" "It is a good surface and there was a great atmosphere - nearly 10,000 people here.

"Also, it is not a million miles away. People travel halfway around the world at this time of the year for a game which is probably not as good as the one we've had, so we'll definitely be back.

"It was an absolutely perfect pre-season game for us. It was played in the right spirit. 

"People were tackling each other but they weren't trying to hurt each other, which is important at this time of the year.

"The Championship is a very tough league. I know, having managed two teams out of it.

"They were both big clubs with big squads and it wasn't easy, so it's tough and Doncaster know that. But I don't think that there is any fear there. 

"They are a good all-round side and have a good work ethic and a good spirit."

A week after kicking off at a wet and gloomy Hartlepool, Newcastle's second pre-season game saw them encounter scorching conditions on the occasion of their first visit to the Keepmoat Stadium.

However the weather was the day's only bright spot for Kevin Keegan's side, who were without a host of familiar faces. Wearing the new purple change kit they made a slow start and wasted what possession came their way, with some wayward free kicks and aimless corners.

The Championship new boys fared little better in what was a disappointing game - although they used 22 players over the course of the afternoon, including two unknown defensive trialists.

For the Magpies there was also one new face, with the unheralded appearance in the number 46 shirt of on-trial Metz central defender Sebastien Bassong.

In the absence of any PA announcement or team listing on the scoreboard, away fans revisited the Brian Pinas "Whatsie" episode at Birmingham in 1997, with chants including, "There's only one 46" & "46 give us a wave".

Bassong didn't respond, as being French he probably had no idea what they were on about....

There was precious little else for the 3,000 away fans to applaud though, last week's hat-trick man, Damien Duff barely bothering to cross the halfway line and fellow midfielders Geremi and Charles N'Zogbia equally impotent. 

Circumstance dictated that KK went with a front pairing of Shola Ameobi and Alan Smith, who were simply an embarrassment and barely Championship standard.

Shola sauntered forward on 73 minutes to fire a lame effort straight at Rovers 'keeper Ben Smith, who was one of a quartet of former Magpies playing for the home side - along with Lewis Guy, James Coppinger and Tomi Ameobi. However the Stuart Elliott they fielded wasn't our old boy.

That was our first real effort on goal, with Tim Krul at the other end slightly busier as he made a couple of fingertip saves in the closing stages.

However, with the game looking like petering out into a scoreless draw, Elliott out-muscled Jose Enrique on 87 minutes and fired home from the edge of the box to give the home side victory.

To add insult to injury, the home side actually played the final 10 minutes of the game with ten men, after one of their trialists had to leave the field. 

The continued absence of Jonas Gutierrez was a talking point - a trialist being eligible to play in a friendly, while someone paraded as a new signing remains sidelined.

Lord knows we needed some spark from somewhere, with only the displays of new boy Danny Guthrie and trialist Bassong in any way positive. 

While there's still three weeks before the real stuff begins, the pre-match quotes from KK about places being up for grabs seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.
 
Biffa