A goal from a former Newcastle Academy player was enough to defeat the current generation of young Magpies in a fund-raising friendly fixture at Hebburn on Tuesday night.

Adam Rundle's effort direct from a corner kick gave the Northern League Second Division outfit a fourteenth minute lead and a youthful United XI under the direction of Academy U18 coach Dave Watson proved unable to cancel that out.

A record crowd over 500 were at Victoria Road West for a fixture arranged to help Hebburn's fundraising efforts, but the football itself wasn't particularly memorable.

Struggling to pose any goal threat in the opening 45 minutes, United lost the services of Kelland Watts when he looked to turn his ankle over in a hole on the pitch. The young striker had netted in his last league two games and was selected for service tonight along with his U18 colleagues.

The visitors were livelier after the break following multiple substitutions that included sightings of Spanish youngster Jesus Nunez-Cumbreras and Tyrique Bartlett - the son of former Charlton Athletic forward Shaun Bartlett. They were both listed as trialists in the official NUFC report.

Hebburn made a raft of changes and restricted Newcastle to long-range efforts from Mackenzie Heaney and Adam Wilson, working a couple of shooting chances themselves in the closing minutes that almost brought them a second goal.

In keeping with non-competitive nature of the evening, both sides made additional changes and brought back on players who had previously been replaced. To add another level of confusion to proceedings, both Isaac Gamblin and Tyrique Bartlett wore number 12 in the second half!

Following the game, Magpies coach Peter Beardsley was the special guest at a sold-out talk-in event in the clubhouse, bringing in more precious revenue to the club.

Biffa