Newcastle Reserves 3, Hartlepool Reserves 2

Nov 18 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

TEENAGE prospect Phil Airey stole the show as Newcastle United's second string won an entertaining North East derby against a strong Hartlepool United.

The Newcastle-born striker, who turned 19 on Saturday, scored twice to help a youthful United to a 3-2 win in a game which also saw an impressive bow in black and white for French trialist Fabrice Pancrate and a lively return for Peter Lovenkrands.

The former Paris St Germain winger tired in the second half, but showed enough flicks and tricks during the first period to warrant further inspection on the part of the United hierarchy.

He was the obvious attraction for the 1,388 crowd at St James' Park and was on the ball early, showcasing an impressive turn of pace to beat Jon-Andre Fredriksen before sliding a decent ball into the box.

However, it was Colin West’s Hartlepool who had the better of the attacking play during an admirably open first quarter of an hour, with striker Armann Bjornsson missing two gilt-edged chances.

First, he somehow headed wide from a David Foley cross before being denied by a brave save by Newcastle goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, who smothered his shot after more good work by Foley.

The ball squirmed loose to the returning Leon McSweeney, but he somehow rifled against the bar from close range.

In between those two shots Pancrate, who hugged the touchline like an old-fashioned winger for much of the first half, looked lively again as he beat Fredriksen before cutting into the box and lofting a shot over Mark Cook's crossbar. Pool broke the deadlock on 25 minutes when United's young defender Matthew Grieve deflected a Jonny Rowell cross into his own net – but they held the lead for just seven minutes before Lovenkrands levelled.

The Dane had already gone close when his deflected free-kick clattered Cook's post, but he did not have to wait long to make amends.

Pancrate was again in the thick of things, flicking a header towards the advancing Airey who in turn supplied United's Danish forward on the 32-minute mark.

Pool recaptured the lead shortly after the break when Billy Greulich plundered from close range after decent work by Antony Sweeney, but again they were unable to hold on to their advantage.

Again it was the combination of Pancrate, Airey and Lovenkrands which unlocked the Pool defence - but it was the Geordie striker who did the lion's share of the work to latch on to a through ball and finish smartly past Cook on 59 minutes.

He completed an excellent night’s work on 67 minutes by nodding Kazenga Lualua's corner past the Pool goalkeeper to seal an impressive win.

NEWCASTLE UNITED: Alnwick; Leadbitter, Grieve, Tozer, Folan; Pancrate, Lualua, Donaldson, Danquah; Airey, Lovenkrands. Substitutes: Henderson, Robinson, Taylor, Adjei, Newton.

HARTLEPOOL UNITED: Cook; Power, Rowell, Cherel, Fredriksen, McSweeney, Clark, Sweeney, Foley; Bjornsson, Greulich. Substitutes: Mason, Sharples, Thomas.

Referee: A. Halliday.