Newcastle U23s made a disastrous opening to their Premier League 2 Division Two season on Monday afternoon at Hogwood Park.

The Magpies beat the Royals away from home no less than three times last season, but the hosts gained ample revenge at their training HQ. 

There were debuts to goalkeeper Jake Turner and midfielder Kyle Scott while Victor Fernandez made a return to league action after missing virtually all of last season due to injury.

Reading included over-age trio Chris Gunter, Garath McCleary and Jordan Obita and went ahead on 12 minutes, Tyler Frost converting from close in.

Turner was picking the ball out of his net again ten minutes before the interval, beaten by Andrija Novakovich. And there was time for a third home goal before the break, Thierry Nevers netting.

Wearing their orange change kit, Magpies enjoyed their best period of the game following the restart, but fell further behind when US international striker Novakovich made it 0-4 after 65 minutes.

A further blow followed when Newcastle defender Owen Bailey was shown a straight red for a clumsy tackle with 18 minutes of normal time left.

The depleted visitors were then hit by two further goals; Nevers grabbing his second on 85 minutes second before Novakovich completed his hat-trick in the closing seconds to confirm our heaviest-ever opening day reserve defeat.

PS: This was scheduled to be U23 boss Neil Redfearn's first competitive game in charge, but a family issue meant that he wasn't in attendance at Hogwood Park.