Matt Targett is on course for a place on the Wembley bench after making a surprise appearance for Newcastle United's second string against Brentford B on Saturday morning.
The former Southampton man even scored in the 4-1 win over the Bees to mark his return to the field in style in a low key friendly. Targett has been missing in action since November after injury issues.
But he fired home inside the box against Brentford to mark his return to the fray in style after a heel injury kept him out of the early part of 2023. Targett got an hour of action under his belt in the friendly game on Tyneside and is now in contention for a place on the subs bench at Wembley.
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Remi Savage, Ben Parkinson and Rodrigo Vilca were the other scorers for United on Saturday. Howe had said: "We have definitely missed Matt, he's first and foremost a great player. He is a great character, very consistent in training and goes about his business in a very professional way.
"He's got very different attributes to Dan Burn. In his own right he is an outstanding player. So having him back is great news for us."
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