Newcastle United kicked off their pre-season schedule with a 5-1 win over neighbours Gateshead FC and Eddie Howe was pleased with his side's performance. The Magpies fielded two separate XIs against the National League North champions with Kell Watts the only player to play the entire 90 minutes.
It gave the likes of Watts, Matty Longstaff and Elliot Anderson an opportunity to force their way into Howe's plans for the upcoming campaign, even if fitness was the main prerogative for the behind-closed doors clash. Newcastle were still without the likes of Sven Botman, Bruno Guimaraes and Nick Pope who were given extended time off as a result of their international exploits.
The Magpies fielded two strong XIs to face Mike Williamson's side and Howe was also impressed by their opponents. Chronicle Live understands the Magpies head coach spoke with representatives from Gateshead FC with the view to sending players on loan to the National League side after being impressed by their style of play.
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Williamson's side romped to the National League North title and have a number of former Newcastle United academy stars in their ranks. Tom Allen and Dan Langley are among the latest contingent to travel across the river Tyne, with the latter of the two penning a season long-loan with the Heed.
The connection between the two clubs is certainly one that has bear fruit in the past, with Paul Dummett, James Tavernier, Adam Campbell and Callum Roberts are just a few of those to have had a loan spell at the International Stadium. There have been fewer names head south of the Tyne in recent years but it still presents a good platform that Newcastle should look to utilise.
Dummett recently spoke of his experience with Gateshead in an interview with nufc.co.uk, as he said: "At this point, I didn't think I would ever play for Newcastle. Even though it was still a good standard in the Conference, I didn't think that I would play for the Newcastle first team.
"But my thought at the time was that I needed to go and play football somewhere - it's going to benefit me playing for a men's team, whether it helps me get somewhere else after Newcastle or helps me at Newcastle. A lot of clubs don't take a chance on younger players, and I had to try and go and play there.
"I was in the reserve team at Newcastle at the time. Players were saying to me, 'what are you going there for?' They were laughing at me, saying, 'don't go to Gateshead'. They basically thought they were too good to go to Gateshead.
"But I was thinking that I didn't have any other options at the time, and I needed to go and do something. It was close as well. I was only there for a month or two, then came back to Newcastle.
"I really enjoyed it. The lads were good there. I knew quite a few of them anyway - Gateshead had quite a lot of players from the North East. Then they had a few ex-Newcastle players who were older than me, so I knew of them but didn't know them. It was fine from the start. We trained every day, round the back of the stadium.
"It was different to the reserves here. You had to try and win, and it was much more physical - it was just much harder altogether. For all young players, it's good for them to do that. I learned a lot playing there, playing in front of fans who actually support the team, because it's different in the reserves - you have people coming to watch, but just because they're interested in the younger players. It meant a lot more to people there."
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