Newcastle's second string began their penultimate league game on Monday night with the chance of going top of the table, but their evening proved to be memorable for all of the wrong reasons.

Things looked like getting off to the best possible start at St. James' Park when home winger Rosaire Longelo was through on goal after just 40 seconds.

However a hasty dash off his line by former Magpie goalkeeper Paul Woolston saw the danger averted - and things rapidly became much worse for the hosts.

The ease with which Nishan Burkart slotted home at the Gallowgate End in the third minute to put the visitors ahead gave a taste of what lay in store.

Angel Gomes should have doubled their lead on 17 minutes after another flowing move cut through the home defence, but his shot was deflected over.

A second goal wasn't long in arriving though, a low shot from Burkart on the edge of the area in the 25th minute eluding Nathan Harker and creeping into the corner.

Gomes then worked an opening just before the half hour before pinging his shot off the Newcastle crossbar from 18 yards. 

It was 0-3 in the 33rd minute when Tahith Chong shrugged off a weak challenge from a defender and strolled into the box before slipping the ball home.

A three goal advantage at the interval hardly seemed to reflect the dominance of a Red Devils side who regularly outwitted home players with nonchalant ease and encountered almost no resistance. 

Such was the one-sided nature of this game it was difficult to believe that ten points separated the sides before kickoff, Newcastle were looking to complete a seasonal double and any hopes that the visitors had of reaching their playoffs had vanished during a seven game winless run before tonight. 

Reaching the hour mark with no further goals, the visitors seemed content to just knock the ball around and the Magpies were only marginally improved after the introduction of Callum Roberts from the bench.

A Lewis Cass drive that flew well wide of the target was all the black and whites managed to create and renewed efforts from Manchester United almost inevitably brought further reward for them.

Mason Greenwood made it 0-4 in the 77th minute with the goal of the night - a perfectly-executed free-kick that flew past Harker from 25 yards.

An own goal five minutes from time by Oliver Walters then capped an awful night and our heaviest reverse of the season, the full back beating Greenwood to a low cross but blasting it into his own net.

Elsewhere, victory for Wolves meant that Newcastle wouldn't have gone top regardless  - and given that Ben Dawson's side were already assured of a place in the promotion playoffs before kick-off, the final score has to be taken in some sort of context.

That's scant consolation for being comprehensively outplayed one week before a Premier League Cup semi-final against Leeds United though and with those playoffs looming next month. 

PS: Believe it or not, we think this is our heaviest home league reserve defeat since a 1-7 hammering at the hands of Wolves in the Central League in 1979.

In terms of reserve team competitions under the Premier League umbrella, we had conceded five goals on three previous occasions, but also troubled the scorer:

2017/18 lost 1-5 Southampton
2013/14 lost 4-5 West Ham
2004/05 lost 2-5 Aston Villa

The only time we've conceded more than five goals at home in the Premier League era was a 3-6 defeat by Manchester United in the 2011/12 season. 

Premier League 2 Division 2 - top six: 
(22 game season)

Pos	Team	Played	Gd	Pts
1	Wolves	21	+22	40
2	Reading	21	+13	40
3	Southampton	20	+12	39
4	Newcastle	21	+8	37
5	Aston Villa	21	+5	36
6	Man United	21	+3	30

Top five - remaining games:

18.04.2019 West Brom v Southampton
26.04.2019 Manchester United v Wolves
26.04.2019 Stoke City v Reading
28.04.2019 Boro v Newcastle
29.04.2019 Aston Villa v West Brom
29.04.2019 Southampton v mackems

Biffa