Newcastle United Under-21s experienced a difficult night as they fell to a 5-0 home defeat against their Chelsea counterparts on Friday.
Newcastle United Under-21s coach Robbie Stockdale admitted his side had experienced a ‘steep learning curve’ in Friday night’s 5-0 home defeat against Chelsea.
It was the Magpies youngsters that started the game on the front foot with Seung-Soo Park and Cathal Heffernan both having brief sights of goal without really threatening Blues keeper Ted Curd. However, there were no such issues for the visitors as former Magpies trialist Dujuan Richards opened the scoring on the quarter-hour mark before winger Jesse Derry doubled their advantage with a neat run and finish nine minutes before the break.
Just as they had during the first half, Stockdale’s side created chances in the early stages after the restart with Trevan Sanusi firing wide and Seung-Soo heading wide when well placed after meeting a cross from the right-hand side. The inability to find the net was punished by a clinical final 20 minutes from Chelsea as Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, Shumaira Mheuka and Harrison Murray-Campbell all showed the clinical edge that had evaded Newcastle to take their side out of sight.
Stockdale insisted the outcome of the game could have been very different had his side taken some of the chances that fell their way in the early stages of both halves - but admitted there was much to learn for his players after a difficult night at Whitley Park.
He told The Gazette: “It’s been a tough night for us. I was happy with a lot of things especially in the first half. I thought we were a little bit unfortunate to go at two-nil down to be honest but against a strong opposition, really good opposition, you have to take your moments and I think we had some chances at key moments in the game, we didn’t take ours and if you don’t get everything correct without the ball, they’ve got players that can exploit you and hurt you and the game got away from us pretty quickly in the second half.
“If you compare the two teams, I think the biggest difference was how clinical Chelsea were at the top end of the pitch and they have got such good players, even the players that came on made an impact on the game. I felt for large periods our lads stood up to that and hung on in there. Even at two-nil, we had a great chance with Park’s header and those are chances you have to take and at two-one it can suddenly look like a different game. It’s a steep learning curve for the players, that’s what 21s football is and the one things we do have this year is lots of games and they have got to get over it pretty quickly, knuckle down and get the next game under their belt.”
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Several Magpies youngsters have attracted interest from clubs and there could be possible loan departures over the final ten days of the summer transfer window. Goalkeeper Aidan Harris has joined Northern Irish club Coleraine until January and fellow academy stopper Tyler Jones will spend Northern Premier League club on a short-term loan deal and could make his debut in Saturday’s FA Trophy tie at Garforth Town.
With scouts from across the EFL and Non-League scene in attendance at Whitley Park on Friday night, Stockdale believes there was still a number of players that would have caught the eye despite the heavy defeat and stressed the Magpies will support them should any interest result in a bid over the coming days.
He said: “I’ve not heard anything (about possible loan departures) over the last few days since I’ve last spoken to you. I guessed people will be watching the game tonight and I still think they’ll like a lot of our players. We will support each player in what that looks like for them.”
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The Magpies Under-21s are back in action next Friday night when they travel to Birmingham City for their next Premier League 2 fixture. The game will be held at the Arden Garages Stadium, home of Southern League club Stratford Town. One player that could come back into contention for the trip to the Midlands is Australian forward Garang Kuol after he missed the defeats against Southampton and Chelsea with a thigh injury.
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