Behind closed doors!
LEEDS UNITED RES 5 NEWCASTLE UNITED RES 1Craig Hope reports from Thorp Arch ...
NEWCASTLE United Reserves were on the wrong end of a 5-1 drubbing in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Leeds United on Tuesday.
An evenly-fought opening hour bore no resemblance to the final 30 minutes as Tresor Kandol came from the bench to fire four times and thus condemn the Magpies to their first defeat of the summer.
The visitors, under the guidance of former Leeds man Alan Thompson, travelled to the Lilywhites' Thorp Arch training ground with a strong squad which included teenage marksman Nile Ranger and Hungarian defender Tamas Kadar.
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But it was the hosts who spent the majority of the opening period camped in opposition territory.
Leeds trialist Sommer was proving to be a handful in attack and his eagerness to impress watching first-team boss Simon Grayson saw Swedish stopper Ole Soderberg called into action all too often during the early exchanges.
First, on five minutes, Soderberg blocked with his legs from the striker's low, 10-yard strike before the same man headed over when unmarked inside the area moments later.
Sommer was again involved as an opportunity was fashioned for strike partner Tripodi on 34 minutes, the fellow trialist seeing his header kept out by the agile Soderberg.
At the other end of the pitch it was Wesley Ngo Baheng who enjoyed United's best chance, his low stab deflected wide off the legs of defender Lees after he had left marker Milne for dead with a deft touch on the edge of the area.
But the deadlock was broken on 38 minutes and it came as little surprise when it was strapping striker Sommer who converted from close range after former Swansea wideman Andy Robinson had made deep inroads in-behind the United backline before rolling into his team-mate's path.
The Geordies emerged in positive fashion after the interval and were level within three minutes of the restart.
Slovenian Haris Vuckic, still just 16 years old, has been tipped by the likes of coach Thompson and Academy Director Richard Money to win his senior debut this season, and it was the attacking midfielder who rifled low into the bottom corner from 12 yards for his second in as many matches.
That goal should have heralded a push for a second from the Magpies, but instead it was the Yorkshiremen who hit back to restore their one-goal advantage, powerful frontman Kandol getting his first with a left-footed shot through the out-stretched fingers of a despairing Soderberg.
Kandol then wriggled free from a tussle with Ben Tozer on the penalty spot before stabbing home for his second on 72 minutes.
The Geordies by now were well and truly on the back foot and Kandol completed a 16-minute treble with another close-range finish.
But Kandol wasn't done yet and he rose to head beyond Soderberg in the dying seconds to compound a miserable afternoon for the Toon second-string.
NUFC: Ole Soderberg, Callum Morris, Darren Lough (Michael McCrudden, 77m), Tamas Kadar, Ben Tozer, Ryan Donaldson, Haris Vuckic (Patrick McLaughlin, 71m), Frank Danquah (Brad Inman, 11m), Fabio Zamblera, Nile Ranger, Wesley Ngo Baheng (Phil Airey, 46m)
