Newcastle U23s lost possession of the Northumberland Senior Cup on Tuesday night, deservedly beaten by an in-form Morpeth side in their Semi-Final at Craik Park.

The visitors fielded nine of the starting selection that strolled past Blyth Spartans 7-2 in their Quarter Final, adding in youth team duo Ryan Barrett and Jack Young - the latter from Morpeth.  

The Highwaymen meanwhile included former Magpie reserve Jeff Henderson in their lineup, but work commitments meant that fellow old boy Ben Sayer was absent.

Clad in their blue change strip, United survived a tough opening 45 minutes with the home side going close on three occasions in as many minutes midway through the first half.

Ben Dawson's side struggled to cope with the strength and aggression of the hosts and visiting goalkeeper Nathan Harker made an athletic stop three minutes before the break to deny David Carson and keep it scoreless.

A minute after the break, Town took the lead when Joe Walton's cross from the right was headed in from close range by striker Liam Henderson. And that lead was doubled in the 59th minute when Harker impeded Carson in the box and Walton stepped up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way.

In the 73rd minute the Highwaymen were reduced to ten men when Sean Taylor was sent off for an awful lunge on Matty Longstaff. Happily the midfielder was able to continue.

Despite that numerical advantage though, United never looked like reducing the arrears and taking the tie into extra time, Town custodian Dan Lowson having very little to do all night.

A difficult night for the Magpies then, who were confronted with physical and verbal intimidation from the hosts and inconsistent support from the referee and this three assistants. 

While some of the visiting side were up for the contest though, others were out of their comfort zone when faced with obstacles that are seldom put in their way in age-specific league and cup fixtures that make up their regular season. 

And therein lies the importance of the Senior Cup for Newcastle U23s as a learning exercise and hopefully preparation for a career in the adult game. Tonight had strong echoes of a series of ties played between United and Bedlington Terriers in the early noughties, when the likes of Peter Ramage and Michael Chopra gained valuable experience coming up against streetwise opponents. 

The intervening years have reduced one advantage however that Newcastle tended to have over their non-league opponents, that of fitness. When they could once be confident of clawing back any interval deficit in the latter stages of ties, the better conditioning and squad makeup of the part timers makes that far less of a foregone conclusion nowadays. 

Contrast this game - a genuine contest - with Newcastle's ludicrous Quarter Final tie against Blyth Spartans, who fielded a shadow side that offered the United players nothing but shooting practice.

Currently 10 points clear at the top of the Northern Premier League Eastern Division, Morpeth will now face Northern League side North Shields in the final at SJP on a date yet to be confirmed.

Magpies v Highwaymen in NSC (modern era):

2018/19 lost 0-2 (SF)
2017/18 won 3-2 (F)
2016/17 won 3-2 (QF)
2014/15 lost 1-3 (SF)
2003/04 won 4-1 (QF)

Biffa