B Team Preview: Saints vs Newcastle

Saints vs Newcastle United

Premier League 2 Division 2

Staplewood Campus

Friday 13th January, 19:00 GMT

Saints host Newcastle United in their second game back after the winter break, looking to continue on from their dominant return to action against Derby County.

Dave Horseman's side ran out 3-0 winners over the Rams at Snows Stadium last week, as Kamari Doyle, Jimmy-Jay Morgan, and Dom Ballard all got on the scoresheet.

With poor weather conditions forcing the fixture to be relocated from AFC Totton's ground, the young Saints will now step out at their training ground with the chance to stretch their unbeaten run to eight matches.

Newcastle have had a completely contrasting turn in form to Horseman's Saints side, as they are without a win in nine straight matches.

In their first game of the new year, a goal in each half saw the Magpies fall to a 2-0 against Aston Villa and drop down to eighth place in the league table.

Saints suffered a late defeat against the Magpies earlier this season; that result was the last game Saints lost and also the last time Newcastle won.

After falling behind early on, goals from Ballard and Nico Lawrence turned things around before the break.

The hosts hit back in the second half however, and completed their comeback with an impressive Joe White free-kick in the final ten minutes of time.

Speaking after Saints' 3-0 win over Derby County, Academy PDP Transition Coach, Louis Carey said:

"I think the boys deserve huge credit. That was our first league game in about a month, the boys have done amazingly well in the cup and now we have a real flow of games.

"There'll be a lot of young lads coming into the team [in the next few weeks], a lot of U18s and U16s we've seen coming through the system that we want to give opportunities to - that experience will be brilliant for them.

"[The Derby win] was a step forward and we want to stay up there near the top of the league."