Newcastle United Under-21’s ‘eye’ cup final St James’ Park return

A spot against Blyth Town in the final awaits the winner of Newcastle United Under-21’s clash with Ashington. The Magpies take on the Colliers this evening knowing a win would see them return to St James’ Park to play in the Northumberland Senior Cup final.

Ben Dawson’s side ended their Premier League 2 campaign with a defeat against Aston Villa on Monday night in-front of 1060 fans at St James’ Park. Despite concluding their league campaign with a defeat just three days ago, Dawson is keen for his side to react to that setback and put that defeat to the back of their minds: “I think the turnaround helps,” Dawson said. “Physically we will be ready to go again Thursday. But the fact that the game is only a couple of days away means they don’t have time to dwell on it. We’re back in and we start our preparations for the Ashington game.”

The Northumberland Senior Cup offers Newcastle United’s Under-21’s the chance to face-off against senior sides and tonight’s game pairs them with an Ashington side that ended their season with a 2-0 win over North Ferriby on Saturday. Both teams will be hoping that their season doesn’t end tonight and Dawson revealed his side will not change their preparations for this game, despite the different questions their opponents will pose. He said: “We’re into forty plus games this season and we’ve prepared in the same way for all of them.

“Every opposition has had the same level of respect and preparation from the EFL Trophy games, the Youth League games, the PL2, Premier League Cup and Senior Cup, we’ve done the same for that.”