16 mins United built an attack from the left flank midway into the opposition half; Matt Targett's forward pass seeing Elliot Anderson link up in an extended one two with new boy Sandro Tonale. 

Taking the excellent return ball in a central area just outside the Rangers box, Anderson played in Miggy Almiron to his right and as Barisic went to ground in a vain attempt to block him, the Paraguayan guided a low effort from 12 yards under McGregor and inside his near post. 1-0

Half time: Rangers 0 Newcastle 1

64 mins Karl Darlow's short pass to restart play lacked sufficient momentum and Lammers nipped in to dispossess a defender and poke the ball past the 'keeper in front of the Copland Stand. 1-1

87 mins United attacked down their left flank and Dan Burn clipped a promising pass from inside his own half into the channel where Alexander Isak had ventured. The Swedish substitute took two defenders with him as he made for the byline, clipping in a centre that Harrison Ashby reached, his looping header leaving Butland helpless as it dropped into the far side of the goal. 2-1

Full time: Rangers 1 Newcastle 2

Michael Beale:

"You can see we did a lot of our (transfer) work early. The boys have only been back two weeks and tonight was our first game in front of the public. I won’t put a number on how many will come in, the market is moving quite quickly.

“We have real set targets and we’ve managed to get some done. I am really pleased with the work we have done. We will see some outs in the coming days as well. We are ahead of schedule.”.
 

Fielding a stronger side than that which had beaten Gateshead on Saturday, a late header from substitute Harrison Ashby made it two wins in a row after an early opener from Miggy Almiron was cancelled out in a rare attacking move from the hosts.

Sandro Tonali made his first appearance for the club and instantly looked at home, while most of his new senior colleagues got pitch time before jetting off for further kickabouts in the USA. That came in a staggered approach that resulted in Jamal Lewis again appearing at outside left in the absence of soon-to-be former Magpie Allan Saint-Maximin; Anthony Gordon then returning to action less a fortnight after his final outing of last season.

United opened the scoring in the 16th minute when Elliot Anderson and Tonali combined to play in Almiron, putting the ball past McGregor who was replaced by Jack Butland six minutes before the break in a planned switch. The 41 year-old is now a free agent with an uncertain future. 

That was a fair reflection on the pattern of play at that point and the black and whites retained the upper hand and dominated possession without creating any further goalscoring opportunities.

An instantly forgettable and less committed second half (cheating Cantwell aside) saw the visitors make seven changes at the interval. Shortly after another raft of substitutions, Rangers registered an equaliser their play didn't warrant when Sam Lammers exploited a poor clearance from Karl Darlow on 64 minutes. 

The evening ended positively though for the Magpies when Alexander Isak's cross from the left hand side of the box was headed over Butland by Ashby in front of the travelling support - Darlow then denying Alex Lowry in the final seconds to wrap up a deserved victory.

Biffa