Newcastle United rounded off their pre-season preparations with a XXX win over Stade Brest, seeing the club lift the Sela Cup for the second year running.
The afternoon started with Newcastle Women taking AC Milan to penalties (which Wor Lasses won!) after a 2-2 draw in normal times before the Men took on Brest – who finished third in Ligue 1 last season – in the 4pm kick-off at St James’ Park.
Harvey Barnes opened the scoring with a lovely first-half finish set up by Lloyd Kelly and Will Osula showed what he was all about up top with his unique mixture of pace, presence, hold up play and movement in behind, with the offside flag denying what would’ve been a lovely debut goal for the 21-year-old striker who signed from Sheffield United earlier this week.
The game fizzled out slightly in the second half, but the French side were competitive throughout and made us work for our clean sheet as we joined the Women in retaining the Sela Cup for another year ahead of next Saturday’s opener at home to Southampton.
The only slightly worry was around Fabian Schar, who looked assure for 80 minutes before hobbling off late on after struggling to recover from what appeared to be a whack to his Achilles. With the new season just seven days away and the squad already light on fit centre-backs, it would be a nightmare to lose Schar and add urgency to our pursuit of Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi.
As expected, Eddie Howe picked an entirely different XI for this one, seeing new signings Osula and Kelly start and first-team regulars Bruno Guimaraes, Kieran Trippier, Joe Willock and Miguel Almiron also return to the side.
Elsewhere, Howe handed a rare start to forgotten left-back Jamal Lewis, while 18-year-old Alfie Harrison – signed from Man City earlier this year – started in midfield, with the bench full of U21 talents hoping to take their chance.
STARTING 11: Dubravka – Trippier (c), Schar, Kelly, Lewis – Harrison, Bruno, Willock – Almiron, Osula,…
Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2024/08/10/newcastle-1-0-brest-toon-lift-sela-cup-on-busy-day-at-st-james-park/
Author : Olly Hawkins
Publish date : 2024-08-10 16:48:10
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