Newcastle ended their tour of Australia with a resounding friendly defeat as a side largely made up of youngsters were battered 8-0 by the A-League All Stars.
Eddie Howe made wholesale changes from the team that overcame Tottenham on penalties on Wednesday, with Newcastle’s XI comprising of half a dozen teenagers while every outfield player was 22 or younger.
First-team trio Kieran Trippier, Elliot Anderson and Lewis Hall were left on the bench as Newcastle fell 3-0 down inside 34 minutes following goals from Ben Old, Nicolas Milanovic and Adam Taggart.
Full-time in Melbourne. #GlobalFootballWeek // #NUFC pic.twitter.com/JD9T5dacTj
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) May 24, 2024
Fourth-choice goalkeeper Mark Gillespie, 32, was beaten for a fourth time after the interval when Apostolos Stamatelopoulos struck before 17-year-old shot-stopper Aidan Harris was introduced.
Harris was beaten by Stamatelopoulos before Jake Hollman, Jordan Courtney-Perkins and Bozhidar Kraev sealed the rout for an All Stars side made up of players from Australia and New Zealand’s top league.
The timing of this tour, just a few days after the Premier League season had wrapped up, was labelled “madness” and “crazy” by former Newcastle striker and manager Alan Shearer on the BBC’s Match of the Day.
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